Gabrielle Union opens up about friendship with Michael K. Williams

Gabrielle Union is reflecting on her relationship with the late Michael K. Williams.

During a recent appearance on Power 105.1's The Angie Martinez Show, the 48-year-old shared how she is grieving the late actor, who was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment earlier this month at the age of 54.

"I think because the root of so many of our relationships with Michael was that he saw us in a way that - I mean to this day I don't know how he knew the things about me that he did," the Bring It On star explained. "I hadn't shared them with anybody. Things I still wouldn't share."

Union met The Wire star while filming the 2018 drama The Public. One night, the late actor asked her to join him for dinner and while they were on the street "he stops on a dime and turns and looks at me and proceeds to tell me about myself."

"I'm trying to scan my brain like, 'Who do we have in common and who would just share this willy nilly with him?' Then I was like, 'Wait, I haven't shared this with anybody,'" she continued. "I was like, 'How do you know this?' And he was like, 'I see it. I see you.' And I was bawling on the streets of Cincinnati."

Union explained how that interaction was emblematic of her relationship with Williams, as she felt he understood her as a person.

"That was our relationship. He saw me, and he was so present and so amazing. But he also was brutally honest about his own demons and challenges," she recalled. "So nothing is ever a surprise in that way, because he just led with his truth in a way that was so radical and brutal and uncomfortable. You could never claim you didn't know - not with Mike."

Williams, who was open about his battle with addiction, died of a suspected drug overdose.