Gabrielle Union: Honeymooner

You saw her as the head cheerleader of a hot squad giving Kirsten Dunst and her crew a run for their money in Bring It On. She's shown up in a score of movies since like She's All That and Ten Things I Hate About You. Sassy Gabrielle Union now plays a long-suffering housewife to big dreamer hubby Cedric the Entertainer as the two go for laughs and romance in The Honeymooners.

In real life, Gabrielle is married to football star Chris Howard and they live in a great house featured in "In Style" magazine this month. Chatting with her in L.A. recently, we learned that the friendly actress has great personal style as well; a yellow, frilly blouse with pink buttons set off by a gold locket and dangle earrings all flattered her gorgeous mocha skin. The actors in The Honeymooners had way too much fun making this film; an update of a classic television series that starred funnyman Jackie Gleason. It was on TV before you were born but you may have caught it in re-runs. Join us as Gabby gets gabby and funny about relationships and her new film.

TeenHollywood: We heard that some of this film was shot in Ireland. It's supposed to be in New York. Does Ireland look like New York?

Gabrielle: We shot a good chunk of it [interiors] in Ireland and then all the exteriors in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Jersey. There is a dog track, shot in Ireland. They were offering major tax breaks [for filmmakers] there.

TeenHollywood: So did you and the rest of the cast [Cedric The Entertainer, Regina Hall, Mike Epps] bond over in Ireland?

Gabrielle: [Being over there] helped in the sense that we pretty much just had each other. So we hung out all day every day, between takes. After work and on the weekends we were all together and it sort of helped us to establish a rapport with one another and establish chemistry because we kinda knew how to play off one another after sitting there riffing in a bar or a pub for hours on end ......... when in Ireland drink Guinness. [laughs]

TeenHollywood: Would you put up with a guy like Cedric's character in your own life that always had some crazy get rich scheme?

Gabrielle: I am not the most patient or tolerant person. If you take my money – no I am certainly out. My husband has had some interesting ideas but nothing of this nature. I am not that tolerant.

TeenHollywood: You are married. How is it to put up with the good, the bad and the ugly?

Gabrielle: You know it is a commitment and no-one ever tells you the truth about marriage. This is something you really don't quite understand until after you are married and then all your married friends are like. 'It sucks doesn't it?' And you are like 'you didn't say any of this when we were picking out bridesmaid dresses' [laughs]. No-one tells you it's a job. It's like you go to work all day you go home and it's another job and you get out of it exactly what you put into it. On the days that you just don't care to work at it are the days that it is extra awful.

TeenHollywood: What was the biggest surprise to you about getting married?

Gabrielle: That they don't go home to somewhere else. They are there every day. When you wake up you're like 'Oh he's here again'. [Laughs] You know when my husband and I met he was playing football in Jacksonville – literally the other side of the Country and it was like the parents that only get the kid on the weekend and its good times and this is fun and then I would go home and have my normal life. When we got married he was playing for the Raiders and he was closer and I was like 'you are here every day. I have to shop for you. I have to be considerate of you, include you in things'.

TeenHollywood: You weren't ready for that, huh?

Gabrielle: Well, that was kind of shocking because that was not the nature of our courtship. In "The Honeymooners" [TV show] they could establish over weeks why Alice loved Ralph. With in the film we had to hit you over the head with our love, literally, from the beginning of the film so you would understand why Alice would stay with a man that was that much of a dreamer. What we were trying to show was that she recognized the passion that he had and that sometimes it's ok to be with a dreamer because they sort of allow you to think outside of yourself.

TeenHollywood: So women aren't dreamers?

Gabrielle: As women we tend to be extra rational and extra logical. You know, 'well that's never going to work' and then when you get out with a dreamer you think ' I remember when I wanted to be an astronaut when I was six, or a super model when I was 10 or a lawyer.' It kind of takes you back to that place that allows you to be more free. I think that is what Alice [her character] recognized in Ralph.

TeenHollywood: Did you ever go back and look at the old TV tapes?

Gabrielle: I have seen every episode, including the lost episodes and the behind the scenes footage and basically devoured it and became a fan. My mom used to watch the re-runs and I remember as a kid watching them with her. We really sort of dissected what made that foursome work and what made that show such a trailblazing entity and how it set the template for every sitcom with the log suffering wife and the irresponsible adolescent husband.

TeenHollywood: How important is home for you because all Alice wanted to do was get a real home. Your home is in InStyle Magazine.

Gabrielle: Yeah that's funny. Our first house. Like I said, my husband was playing in Jacksonville and you assume that professional athletes are going be there forever, so I wanted a townhouse that was all mine. That I had paid for all on my own. So I bought this townhouse and my husband would come in the summers and the off-season and I assumed that our neighbors would welcome us with open arms, and it did not happen. I had this big black dog and this big black husband and this big black truck and they just didn't like us.

TeenHollywood: Well that's awful!

Gabrielle: They were so happy when we left. When we found our home that you saw in InStyle, literally we drove on the block and we saw other people of color (which in LA doesn't always happen) and we were like, 'Look, helloooo..' We were all so excited. We've got great very open minded neighbors and everyone has their dogs out and you see blue-jays and squirrels.

TeenHollywood: The place looks great in the magazine.

Gabrielle: I literally had spent about six months in that house and we bought all the furniture from the old owners, thinking that 'well gosh they have great taste, we can just sorta step into their lives because they seem like a happy couple with a kid'. It doesn't quite work like that. It was never ours and reflective of us. So finally we redecorated in our style and I love being at home. I don't get to stay there that often but there is nothing better than owning your own space. Your house that has your name on it. It is like a little chunk of earth that you can call your own. You can't beat it. No one can take it away from you, unless you don't pay your bills.

TeenHollywood: Did you grow up in houses?

Gabrielle: I am originally from Omaha, we had a home there and then we moved to the Bay Area when my parents got transferred. I had a couple of childhood homes. My parents were very big on home ownership. We are very much about having a strong work ethic. You do things the right way. You go to school, get good grades so you can get into the right college and then get into the right graduate school. Then you can get the right job and marry the right guy, have 2.5 kids and live normally – maybe go to Hawaii once a year. So that whole idea of Ralph Kramden and the get rich quick schemes is completely foreign to me. My parents were the people that put in over time so you could get those things for your home or kids.

TeenHollywood: What are your parents in?

Gabrielle: Both my parents are in telecommunications. My mom was at Pacific Bell and my dad was at AT&T.

TeenHollywood: What do you find "hot" about Cedric the Entertainer as your film husband?

Gabrielle: Cedric is incredibly sexy and talented. When I first met my husband, he is not physically my type. I am normally into basketball like stature and he is big, like 250 pounds, covered in tattoos – looked like Tupac and had earrings. I had never brought home someone with earrings and tattoos. He is from the South, and even though I could have judged that book based on its cover I would have missed a lot of good reading.

TeenHollywood: So your real hubby just fit in great with your family?

Gabrielle: Like I said he is a Southern gentleman who just fell in love with my parents and my parents fell in love with him. He is that guy who sits there with a baby, or plays checkers with the kids and goes out and shoots hoops with my dad. Everyone just got along with him immediately and recognized, kinda like Ralph, that everything that motivated him was out of his love for me.

TeenHollywood: Were you able to feed off Cedric's energy in regard to the arguments in the movie?

Gabrielle: Cedric and I have been friends for a while. He and his wife and me and my husband went on vacation together. So we spent a lot of time talking about the beauty and the beast of marriage. Cedric was like 'I think I am going to do this remake of "The Honeymooners" and I would love it if you could be Alice'. So finally when the time came, I felt completely prepared as we were honest with everyone about how our marriages were put together.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.