NBA star Dwyane Wade and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union, have been vocal in the past about defending the rights of their children to behave, dress, and be exactly who they are.
While this has fueled speculation in the past about their child’s gender identity, Wade has only now revealed the truth on Ellen .
“Me and my wife Gabrielle Union are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community,” Wade began.
“And we are proud allies as well. We take our roles and our responsibility as parents very seriously. So when our child comes home with a question, when a child comes home with an issue, when a child comes home with anything…”
“It’s our job as parents to listen to that.”
“[It’s our job] to give them the best information that we can, to give them the best feedback that we can,” Wade explained.
“That doesn’t change because sexuality is now involved in it.”
“So once Zaya, our 12-year-old, came home — first Zion, I don’t know if everyone knows, originally named Zion, born as a boy — came home and said, ‘Hey, I want to talk to you guys. I think going forward I’m ready to live my truth,'” Wade continued, revealing Zaya’s preferred name.
“‘I want to be referenced as she and her, I would love for you guys to call me Zaya,’” Wade quoted his daughter.
“It’s now our job to go out and get information, to reach out to every relationship that we have — my wife reached out to everybody on the cast of Pose ,” Wade explained, referencing the groundbreaking series surrounding the LGBT Ballroom scene in New York.
Wade explained that he and his wife were just trying to do their best.
“We’re just trying to figure out as much information as we can to make sure that we give our child the best opportunity to be her best self,” he said.
Wade revealed how he and his wife want to allow Zaya to express herself.
“Once Zaya came home and said, ‘I want you to call me Zaya and I’m ready to take on this,’ I looked at her and said, ‘You are a leader.'”
“‘And this is our opportunity to allow you to be a voice.'”
“Right now it’s through us, because she’s 12 years old, but eventually it will be through her,” Wade added.
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Gabrielle shared a video on Twitter of Zaya speaking for herself on the matter.
“Meet Zaya. She’s compassionate, loving, whip smart and we are so proud of her. It’s Ok to listen to, love & respect your children exactly as they are. Love and light good people,” Gabrielle wrote alongside the video.
“What’s the point of being on this earth if you’re going to try to be someone that you’re not?” Zaya says in the video.
“You’re not even living as yourself, which is the dumbest concept to me,” Zaya continues. Zaya also discusses being able to look in the mirror and “say hi to yourself, ‘nice to meet you .'”
“Instead of, ‘I don’t really know who I am.’”
It sounds like Zaya has a really good head on her shoulders, and it’s awesome that she has such loving and supportive parents in Dwyane and Gabrielle.
You can watch the video for yourself here.
Congratulations to Zaya for being so public with her truth! Like her family, we’re all incredibly proud of her!
