Dwyane Wade Is Standing Up For His Trans Daughter. His Ex-Wife Doesn’t Approve
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Dwyane Wade is firing back at his ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches-Wade, who claimed that the former NBA star was using their daughter’s transition to profit off potential brand deals and partnerships.
The now-estranged couple share two children together, including 15-year-old Zaya Wade. On Tuesday, Funches-Wade filed a petition asking a judge to block Zaya’s official name change, citing potential pressure from outside forces and an alleged desire from her ex-husband to make money off of her. But in an Instagram post Thursday, Wade denied all of Funches-Wade’s allegations and said his former partner was an “absent parent” who was centering herself “without regard to her children.” (He wrote it in the notes app so you know it’s serious.)
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“Zaya is not that same 3 year child anymore and she’s screaming that to the world but most importantly to her Mother! No one in our house would ever force Zaya or any of our children to do anything against their will, much less force an identity on them,” Wade said Thursday. “This isn’t a game for my family and definitely not for Zaya. This is her life!”
Representatives for Wade and Funches-Wade did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
Wade’s statement comes as part of an ongoing battle between the former spouses and their daughter Zaya Wade. Married in 2002, Wade and Funches-Wade were together for five years before their separation in 2007. In the process of their divorce, the two began a lengthy legal battle over issues of defamation and custody until Wade, a full-time player in the NBA at the time, was granted sole custody of both of his children in 2010.
“This court finds that [Siohvaughn Wade] has embarked on an unstoppable and relentless pattern of conduct for over two years to alienate the children from their father, and lacks either the ability or the willingness to facilitate, let alone encourage, a close and continuing relationship between them,” a portion of the ruling read.
Zaya, 15, came out in 2020 as transgender and has since become an outspoken advocate for queer rights and education for kids and teens in the LGBTQ+ community. Earlier this year, Wade filed a court petition to legally change Zaya’s name and gender markers, which Zaya has been using socially since 2020. While Wade said he informed Funches-Wade as a “courtesy,” she filed an additional petition on Tuesday, claiming Wade was using Zaya’s transition as a way to make more money and implying the teenager might be under pressure from the social nature of her life. Funches petitioned the judge to make Zaya wait until she was 18 to change her legal name, which she called the “age of majority.”
“Given Petitioner’s high-profile status as a professional athlete, our children’s lives have been highly publicized,” Funches-Wade said in the filing. “Petitioner has appeared on national television shows and in media reports regarding our child’s name and gender change. I am concerned that our child is being commercialized at a young age and also of the uncontrollable consequences of media exposure i.e. cyber bullying, statements and/or pictures taken out of context of our child, and unwanted spotlight focused on our child.”
According to Wade, the former NBA star gave Funches-Wade several opportunities to connect with Zaya about her transition, but she refused.
“I’ve given her the opportunity to reach out to Zaya’s teachers, doctors and therapist over the years and even meet her friends, so she could get her own understanding of our child’s needs for her LIFE!” Wade said. “I will not sit on my hands this time and allow her to make a mockery of my dedication to my family.”
Since Zaya came out as transgender, Wade and his current wife, actress Gabrielle Union, have made concerted efforts to publicly support her and her journey. At a Time100 Summit earlier this year, Wade spoke out against anti-transgender legislation and expressed how, even though he holds some fears about what his daughter’s openness and bravery could expose her to, he’s proud that Zaya has always known what she wanted.
“I went years without telling my chef that I don’t like cilantro on my burger—as an adult, it took me years to have the confidence to say that,” Wade said. “My daughter, at eight years old, had the confidence to say ‘This is who I am. This is who I want to be.”
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