Union, married to basketball player Dwyane Wade, says the couple have gone through “eight or nine miscarriages” and she’s previously spoken about the common misconception that women who have problems conceiving must have focused too much on their careers or ‘left it too late’.

In 2015, she told Redbook: “There’s a certain amount of shame that is placed on women who have perhaps chosen a career over starting a family younger. The penance for being a career woman is barrenness. You feel like you’re wearing a scarlet letter.”

In another interview, she said: “I think TV shows and film kind of make [out that] the frigid, you know, single-focused career woman, that her career is the root of all of the problems in her life.

“Can’t find a man, it’s the career. Marriage falls apart, it’s the career! […] and that’s just not the case.”

Saying she wanted to “shed a little light” on fertility, she added: “If you happen to have issues with fertility as you’ve gotten older and you happen to have a career, all is not lost […] there are so many options, and you’re not alone.”

Image: Rex Features

Gabrielle Union concisely explains why nobody should ask when you’re starting a family