How Dwyane Wade Came to Be the Ultimate Family Man
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Former NBA superstar Dwyane Wade is a dad and guardian to five children: his nephew Dahveon Morris, his children Zaire and Zaya (with his first wife Siohvaughn Funches), son Xaiver Wade (with Aja Metoyer), and daughter Kaavia Wade (with wife Gabrielle Union).
Wade is proud of his family and has spoken at length about how important parenting is to him. As he told TODAY in June 2022, the role is his most crucial. "I think we have to continue to grow as parents and understand that our kids’ lives are not just about us," he said. "We didn’t have them to be a mini version of us. They’re going to become who they are in this world, and it’s our job to find that out."
Wade has raised a family that he is proud of while fighting for his kids to be seen, heard and loved. Here is what you want to know about Dwyane Wade's children.
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How many kids does Dwyane Wade have?
Wade is dad to four children: Zaire, Zaya, Xavier and Kaavia. He is also the legal guardian of his sister's biological son, Dahveon Morris.
Who are the mothers of Dwyane Wade's kids?
Wade shares his biological children with three women, including his wife, Gabrielle Union.
Siohvaughn Funches
Siohvaughn Funches and Wade met when the hooper was only 9 years old. They got married in 2002 and had two children together, Zaire and Zaya. The pair divorced in 2007, and Wade launched a successful custody battle and was awarded full custody of Zaire and Zaya.
Even though their divorce proceedings concluded in 2013, Funches and Wade returned to court in 2022 after Funches submitted documents against their daughter Zaya's decision to change her name and gender. As reported by PEOPLE, Funches claimed in part that her ex-husband was "positioned to profit from the minor child's name and gender change with various companies through contacts and marketing opportunities including but not limited to deals with Disney."
Funches wrote the book The True Story for God's Glory, in which she details her side of her relationship with a man she describes only as "the father of my children."
"I got divorced and had both my children wrongfully taken from me," she said. "I lost my home and my health, my reputation was destroyed."
Aja Metoyer
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Aja Metoyer is the mother of Wade's son Xavier. At the time of the relationship, Wade was separated from his now-wife Gabrielle Union, though the pair eventually reconciled and Wade had to come clean about Metoyer's pregnancy.
Both Wade and Union have been open about the impact that experience had on their relationship. While Wade didn't cheat on Union as they were broken up at the time, Union has since said the ease with which Wade and Metoyer conceived their child after her own failed attempts at pregnancy with Wade was extremely painful for her to work through.
Metoyer is a former reality-TV star who was featured on the series Basketball Wives in 2017. She and her ex Damon Wayans Jr. have two children together.
Gabrielle Union
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Union and Wade first met in February 2007 while Wade was still married to his first wife. (Union had divorced her first husband, Chris Howard, the year before.) She and Wade were first spotted in public together two years later, in 2009, before officially making their red-carpet debut together at the Summer Groove Charity event in 2010.
Wade and Union temporarily broke up from January to April 2013, during which time Wade conceived his son Xavier. As Union later wrote in an essay for Time, "It should go without saying that we were not in a good place at the time that child was conceived. But we were doing much better when he finally told me about the pregnancy."
She continued, "To say I was devastated is to pick a word on a low shelf for convenience. There are people—strangers I will never meet—who have been upset that I have not previously talked about that trauma. I have not had words, and even after untold amounts of therapy I am not sure I have them now."
Wade and Union married in August 2014 and their daughter Kaavia was born via surrogate in 2018.
Related: Internet Divided After Gabrielle Union Says She Splits Finances Evenly With Dwyane Wade
Who are Dwyane Wade's kids?
Dahveon Morris (Sept. 17, 2001)
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Wade won full custody of his nephew Dahveon Morris, who is now 21, in 2011. In 2019, Gabrielle Union shared a photo on Instagram of Morris attending his prom with his girlfriend at the time.
Zaire Wade (Feb. 4, 2002)
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Wade and his first wife welcomed their first child together in early February 2002. Zaire and his father are close, and Wade's oldest child hopes to be play in the NBA like his father.
In 2020, Wade told People that his son's path in basketball is entirely up to him. He said, "He's in the driver's seat. If basketball is the ultimate goal, then I'm just trying to help him along the way, understanding there's so many different ways to get to this goal."
Wade continued, "There's so many different ways to get to the NBA or to get that path ... So, [I'm] just trying to help him navigate through expectations that the world has put on him, and that he puts on himself because of his last name."
Zaire, now 21, was drafted by the NBA G League team the Salt Lake City Stars in 2021. In the same year, he and Wade collaborated on a fashion project for Zaire's brand YnG DnA. In 2023, he signed a contract to play basketball with the Cape Town Tigers in South Africa with the hope of returning to the NBA.
Zaire told GQ at the time, "It's the NBA's league and the best teams across Africa. I’m 21, so I’m still in a place where I’m striving for my Day One dreams. There’s a growing path everywhere."
Zaya Wade (May 29, 2007)
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Wade and Funches welcomed their second child, Zaya Wade, in May 2007, the same year that her parents divorced.
Zaya, now 16, made headlines in 2020 when she came out as transgender. Wade visited the Ellen DeGeneres Show that year to speak about the moment his daughter came out to her family. He explained to Ellen, "Zaya, our 12-year-old, came home and said, 'Hey, so I want to talk to you guys. I think going forward, I'm ready to live my truth. And I want to be referenced as she and her. I'd love for you guys to call me Zaya.'"
Since coming out, Zaya has become a strong advocate for civil rights and her entire family has joined her. The family was named among TIME's 100 Most Influential People in 2020. Zaya and Gabrielle Union also joined the Dove Self-Esteem Project in 2022, and Zaya specifically addressed the challenges she faced after coming out publicly.
She said, "As a trans person, once I came out, there was a lot of hateful comments about how I should grow my hair out long or fit into a certain version of femininity, even though that's not true at all. That kind of advice is just trying to break you, but don't let it."
Zaya's dad filed a legal petition to change her name and gender in November 2022, and the request was legally granted in February 2023. The following month she walked her first runway event at Miu Miu's Paris Fashion Week show with both Wade and Union in attendance.
Related: Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union's Daughter Zaya Makes Modeling Debut After Her Legal Transition
Xavier Wade (Nov. 10, 2013)
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Dwayne Wade's son Xavier Wade was born in November 2013, a month before Dwayne and Gabrielle Union got engaged.
Dwayne has been open about how raising Xavier is different than raising his other kids. In his book Dwayne, he explained, "Xavier doesn't live with me, so we don't get to see each other every day like I do with my other kids. It makes things challenging at times, but it's my job to make sure he never has to carry that weight."
He continued, "It's up to me to make sure he knows he's being raised with love even if we don't live under the same roof ... And it's up to me to let him know that while distance may physically separate us at times, I'm always going to be the man he can depend on to love him and help lead him."
Xavier, 9, is still very young and does not have a public presence, though his mother sometimes shares photos of him on her own Instagram account.
Kaavia Wade (Nov. 7, 2018)
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Wade and Gabrielle Union welcomed their daughter Kaavia in November 2018 with the help of a surrogate. Union had previously detailed her infertility struggles in her memoir. "I have had eight or nine miscarriages," she wrote. "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."
While Kaavia is only 4 years old, she is already very popular with the couple's fans, especially for the expressions she makes in photos that Wade and Union share.
Does Dwyane Wade have custody of all his kids?
Wade is a guardian to his nephew Dahveon, has custody of his children Zaire, Zaya and Kaavia, and shares custody of his son Xavier.
Do Dwyane Wade's kids live with him?
At present, Zaya and Kaavia live at home with Wade and Gabrielle Union. Zaire is playing basketball in South Africa and Xavier lives with his mother.
Does Dwyane Wade have a son?
Wade is dad to two sons, Zaire and Xavier.
What age did Zaya Wade come out?
Zaya Wade was 12 years old when she came out.
How many kids did Dwayne Wade have before Gabrielle Union?
Wade was a dad to Zaire, Zaya and Xavier before he and Gabrielle Union welcomed their daughter Kaavia.
