Gabrielle Union Reveals the Sweet Way Dwyane Wade Once Cheered Her Up During a Bad Week

Gabrielle Union says Dwyane Wade knew exactly how to make her feel appreciated when she was having a bad week

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Gabrielle Union might be telling her fans to steer clear of her and husband Dwyane Wade‘s “relationship goals” label—but the star’s anecdotes are certainly making it difficult.

On Thursday, the Being Mary Jane actress, 45, shared an instance where Miami Heat’s Wade perked up her grueling day—by decorating her trailer with bouquets of roses and sentimental notes.

“I was having a s—-y week. Just those days when you wake up angry, you’re angry all day, you go to sleep angry, and it’s rinse and repeat every day for a good week,” the actress told Ebony magazine. “I get in my trailer, and there are flowers all over and there [are] a number of cards. Each card says something a little bit different, [including,] ‘I see you,’ ‘Our family appreciates your sacrifice,’ ‘We all know how hard you’re working’ and ‘I love you.

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The gesture, she says, dissipated any lingering feeling of stress or solitude. “Sometimes, [even in a marriage] you can start to feel like you’re disappearing or you’re shrinking right before somebody’s eyes. That card at that moment was like, ‘OK, I’m not crazy. I am not doing this for no reason. I’m going to be OK because somebody out there loves me,'” she added.

Union, who split from ex-husband Chris Howard in 2006, tied the knot with the NBA all-star in 2014 after five years of dating. Since then, the duo’s public displays of love and affection have roused fans to describe the inseparable pair as “couple goals.”

“He’s my best friend,” Union told PEOPLE last year. “All we do is laugh when we’re together.”

The actress, however, cautioned fans to eschew their common label and dispel the idea of a flawless marriage. “My ‘perfect’ relationship isn’t the next person’s. Stop comparing your life, your love and your marriage. Everyone [doesn’t] have to match for it to be real, amazing and beautiful,” she said.

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Union, who took on the role of step-mother to Wayde’s 16-year-old nephew, Dahveon Morris, and his sons from a previous marriage, Zaire, 15, and Zion, 10, was recently praised by the basketball player in a sweet Instagram post dedicated to their four-year anniversary.

“I wanna acknowledge my wife and the kids stepmom for being everything that each boy and I have needed her to be. We couldn’t have wished for more… Thank you for loving us!” he wrote.

As for the advice Union was willing to approve, it involved putting oneself first in the relationship.

“You have to [say to yourself,] “I don’t give a s—t. I don’t need this to match. I don’t need to be anybody’s anything. Once I become everything to myself, I can offer something to someone else and maybe we can create some different s—t that works for us, and that’s it.”