Star reveals struggle with 'eight or nine' miscarriages

Actress Gabrielle Union. Photo / Getty

Gabrielle Union has suffered "eight or nine" miscarriages.

The 'Being Mary Jane' star has spent three years as a "prisoner of trying to get pregnant" through fertility treatment and has faced a heartbreaking struggle trying to have a baby with husband Dwyane Wade.

Actress Gabrielle Union (R) and NBA player Dwyane Wade (L). Photo / Getty

In an excerpt from her new book, 'We're Going to Need More Wine', obtained by People magazine, she revealed: "I have had eight or nine miscarriages."

"For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant -- I've either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle."

But despite the challenges they have faced, Gabrielle and her NBA star husband - who has sons Zaire, 15, Zion, 10, and Xavier, three, from past relationships, and also raises his 16-year-old nephew Dahveon Morris - are still determined to have a baby together.

The 44-year-old actress wrote: "[We] remain bursting with love and ready to do anything to meet the child we've both dreamed of."

Gabrielle is speaking openly about her fertility struggles because she hates being under constant scrutiny.

(L-R) Dwyane Wade, Zaire Wade, Dahveon Morris, and Gabrielle Union attend Dwyane Wade's All-Star Bowling Classic hosted by the Sandals Foundation on February 14, 2015. Photo / Getty

She explained: "For so many women, and not just women in the spotlight, people feel very entitled to know, 'Do you want kids?' A lot of people, especially people that have fertility issues, just say 'no' because that's a lot easier than being honest about whatever is actually going on. People mean so well, but they have no idea the harm or frustration it can cause.

"Once a month I look like I'm in my second trimester because I'm bloated."

"It leads to the questions and it leads to the rumours and anytime I go into a doctor's office I feel like I'm a member of SEAL Team Six undercover because I don't want people to speculate."