Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union’s family have been in the spotlight several times throughout the past few years, thanks in large part to their now 16-year-old daughter, Zaya, who came out as transgender in 2020.
As you can imagine, people had a lot to say about this, but throughout it all, Wade has been focused on supporting Zaya and making sure she doesn’t feel judged by him.
During a conversation with PEOPLE, the NBA legend talked about his parenting approach…
Most people are more open with their best friends, people they choose rather than what they’ve been given. I don’t want to just be one of those people who’s just been given to Zaya and she doesn’t feel open and confident in me. I want to show her what unconditional love looks like so she can use me as this sounding board through life.
And this approach extends to his other four children as well. He explained how when he has serious discussions with his children, he makes sure they feel like they’re not being judged.
We have no judgment with each other and we’ve been through a lot of things that a lot of people on the outside would deem as something that we don’t look at it as that way. And so that’s how I treat my kids.”
That’s certainly refreshing to hear. We think a lot of parents could use this advice. It’s easy to judge. Harder to accept.
