Gabrielle Union has admitted she was "scared" when she welcomed her daughter Kaavia into the world last year.
The 47-year-old actress and her husband Dwayne Wade welcomed Kaavia via surrogate mother in November last year, and in honour of the tot’s first birthday, Gabrielle has taken to Instagram to share a heartfelt tribute, in which she admits she was terrified of being labelled a "failure" for having "no clue" what to do as a new mother.
Alongside a slideshow of pictures of Kaavia set to ‘Lovely Day’ by Bill Withers, Gabrielle wrote: "Scared to hold you. Scared to burp you. Scared to reveal I have no clue what I’m doing. Scared to go to work. Scared to stay home. Scared when you sleep. Scared when you wake up. Scared I’m not living up to some impossible standard of motherhood. Scared I’d lose myself. Scared I’d be exposed as a failure, as less than, not as good as, not as comfortable as, not as… anything. (sic)"
The ‘Being Mary Jane’ actress went on to credit her daughter with allowing her to "let go" of her fears, as she said she is celebrating her tot now that she’s learned to "just enjoy" her time with Kaavia.
She wrote: "But there you were, everyday, looking up at me, like "gurl, you got this!" When I let go of my fears of judgement and just did my best and recognized that my best would and could change from day to day and life would magically go on… Man, I finally allowed myself to just enjoy you @kaaviajames and relax into the peace of imperfection. 1 year in and your whole village stays smiling. The family you know and all the cyber aunties and uncles you may never meet, we celebrate you. (sic)"