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Gabrielle Union just turned 49, and she celebrated the big day by posting a bunch of photos of herself in a bikini on Instagram.
"Forty-FINE 💃🏾🦂 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEE!!! 🎈🎁🎊🎉," she wrote in the caption. In the photos, the Bring it On alum is modeling a bright orange bikini, matching sarong, and straw hat as she looks out over a beach.
The comments on Union's post were filled with well wishes, including some from fellow celebrities. "Happy birthday beautiful gal!!!! ❤️❤️❤️" said Mariah Carey. "Damn you look goooodt! Happy birthday beautiful!" wrote Christina Milian.
Union recently got candid with Health about how she's gotten so physically and mentally healthy at this point in her life. The You Got Anything Stronger? author credits therapy for her mental health, which she started after she was sexually assaulted at age 19. "I think for everyone, it was about wanting me to be OK as fast as possible," she said. "Then, when I went to UCLA, I sought the help of the UCLA Rape Crisis Center. That was my lifeline—you're with people who can relate to everything you're talking about. When my therapist from home knew I was going to college, she told me to go there for resources and said, 'Know where it is. Map your route.' [On the large UCLA campus], there are tens of thousands of people—it's just full of triggers. So her even telling me how to map out the route that I would walk was helpful."
Gabrielle Union Bikini Post
Union said she continued therapy after college and eventually started looking for therapists who were Black women. "When I started making more money, I was like, 'There aren't enough Black women therapists in my network, and I really want one—I feel like it could make a difference,'" she remembered thinking. "So I found my therapist who has now been with me for, like, 20 years."
Union has been open about working on her physical strength, too. She previously told Women's Health that she has a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, and that she exercises to try to combat that. "I want to be a vital and energetic part of my family for a long time," she said. "I work out not because I get off on it, but because I want to live."
She also shared that she likes to do cardio circuits and switches things up between Pilates and strength training. "I'm not a morning person, but I have to work out early because of my schedule," she told Women's Health. "The great thing about Pilates is that I can take out my annoyance from waking up early on the machines instead of human beings. It's for the greater good. My body responds to it, and I'm also more clear."
RELATED: Gabrielle Union Shares Her Most Vulnerable Moments—Including a Life-Changing Misdiagnosis
Union also teamed up with the fitness app FitOn, where she's shared a few HIIT workouts that are peppered with her hilarious commentary. "I feel like my bones are rattling," she said in a clip from one that she shared on Instagram. "Is that a sign?" In another, she simply says, "Nope!" when her trainer asks if she's ready for another round.
"I can't promise it won't make you curse in exhaustion, but I can promise it'll be worth it… and I'll do my best to entertain you along the way," she joked in the caption.
Plenty of people pointed out in the comments of Union's latest post that she looks like she doesn't age, and Union has addressed that, too: She likes to drink a lot of water. "My 'secret'… best anti-aging product there is #43 #IPeeAlot #getalotofreadingdone…," she previously wrote on Instagram. "I add lemon for taste and try to finish the gallon by 6pm," she added. "Otherwise you go all night."
Happy birthday!
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