Dwyane Wade breaks his silence after his ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches-Wade filed a petition to ask a judge to impose an order that would ban their 15-year-old daughter, Zaya Wade, from legally changing her gender from male to female until she is 18. In the filing, she said D. Wade is exploiting their child for financial gain. Read his response inside….
More drama is brewing between former NBA star Dwyane Wade and his ex-wife, Siohvaughn Funches-Wade. And it has everything to do with their transgender daughter, Zaya Wade (formerly Zion Wade).
The former Miami Heat player took to his Instagram account to respond to a petition Siohvaughn filed, in which she begged a judge to impose an order that would ban their 15-year-old daughter, Zaya Wade, from legally changing her gender from male to female until she is 18. In the petition, she also accused D. Wade of exploiting their child for financial gain.
While on vacation in Africa for his wife Gabrielle Union’s 50th birthday, D. Wade took a moment to pen an open letter to his ex-wife about the “harmful allegations” she made against him.
“Since this must be the new way of parenting, I guess I have to address these allegations here, which is a damn shame,” the 40-year-old father wrote in an Instagram post. “While I’m on a life-changing trip in our motherland, Africa, I’ve received a social media post about me forcing our 15 year old child to be someone she’s not and to do something against her will. These are serious and harmful allegations that have hurt our children. While none of us are surprised by Siohvaughn’s attempt to fight Zaya’s identity and her unwavering attempt to drag my name through the mud, I’m very disappointed that she continuously find ways of centering herself and HER needs, without regard to her children. This report came out while Zaya was in class. This is a kid who has maintained a 4.0 GPA in honors classes while navigating all this unsolicited and harmful attention and debates about her gender and sexuality from those who are committed to not listening to her, much less even knowing her.”
D. Wade mentioned his ex-wife tried a similar attempt over a decade ago while they were battling in court for custody of their two children. The ex-NBA star and Siohvaughn split in 2007. The divorce was finalized in 2010. They share 20-year-old Zaire and 15-year-old Zaya. When it was all said and done, D. Wade was awarded sole custody of their two children. By the way, D. Wade has an 8-year-old son, Xavier, whom he shares with Aja Metoyer, and a 3-year-old daughter, Kaavia, with his wife, Gabrielle Union.
“Siohvaughn tried a similar attempt over a decade ago (with equally damaging lies and confusing irreparable harm to her children) and 13 lawyers later, I was awarded sole custody of our two kids as an active NBA player!” he continued on Wednesday. “All I ever wanted was to have my parenting time uninterrupted, as I knew that it would be a very difficult time for our kids to navigate their new normal. So Instead of actually trying to co-parent over the years, she’s left her home to see more lawyers and has taken the time to talk to more lawyers since I filed for divorce, than she’s left her home to actually see or have truly spoken and LISTENED to Zaya over all these years.”
He continued, “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 added on Wednesday. “She won’t do it! She has not been to a school, recital, graduation, school dance, play date, practice, parent teacher conference etc and Zaya has given her every opportunity to try to get to know her. She won’t do it.”
In 2020, Zaya came out as transgender with the support of his dad and stepmother. In the court documents, Siohvaughn shared she’s concerned “that [Wade] may be pressuring our child to move forward with the name and gender change in order to capitalize on the financial opportunities that he has received from companies, and will receive based upon [his] statements to me, on the basis of our child’s name and/or gender change.”
Siohvaughn requested that the court deny D. Wade’s filing to legally change Zaya’s name and gender. In his IG response, D. Wade said Zaya isn’t “that same 3-year-old 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,” D. Wade continued. “This isn’t a game for my family and definitely not for Zaya. This is her life.”
“As men, we get a bad rep for not showing up and being absentee fathers, well that’s not the case here because I’m ten toes down and I’m still going thru the BS!” he wrote. “I will not sit on my hands this time and allow her to make a mockery of my dedication to my family. The high road has run out of real estate. My lawyer will be in contact and best of luck to the 14h lawyer as they try to unravel this book of lies that’s been sold to them.”
The Blast has more details about Siohvaughn’s objection to D. Wade’s petition to have Zaya’s name and gender changed and issuance of a new birth certificate.
Shockingly, Siohvaughn — who is represented by celebrity attorney Mark Gross — claims, “There are multiple factors to be considered by the Court in determining the requests to change the minor child’s name and gender. The minor child is fifteen and one-half years old.” Adding, Dwyane “is 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.”
Dwyane’s ex-wife is straight up saying the child might be influenced by an opportunity for the NBA star to make money if the gender change is completed. “This matter has been highly reported in the media and there will likely be media pressure on the minor child,” she writes. Siohvaughn clarified her position claiming it was Dwyane who told her directly that money was partially behind the decision. She writes, “I have concerns that (Dwyane) may be pressuring our child to move forward with the name and gender change in order to capitalize on the financial opportunities that he has received from companies.”
She explains, “In April 2022, (Dwyane) invited me to one of his residences in Atlanta, Georgia. During this occasion, he informed me that a lot of money had been already made and that additional money will be made in relation to our child’s name and gender issue. (Dwyane) told me that he intended to make our child very famous due to the name and gender issue and also informed me that there would be endorsements/contracts associated therewith.”
Adding, “I inquired what companies had made deals, or was willing to make deals, with (Dwyane) regarding our child. Zion, who was present at the time, answered that various companies were interested and that Disney was a prospective company.”
A hearing for the case is reportedly set for December 12. Hopefully, this doesn’t get messy like the divorce.
Photos: Instagram
