Zaya Wade revealed she was gay at 8-years-old, according to dad Dwyane Wade. Wade opened up about his daughter’s transformation during a recent interview on I AM ATHLETE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vie52SloEv0
“There was an assignment that was done at school,” Dwyane said in reference to what prompted Zaya to be authentic. “And the assignment said, ‘Tell me about yourself.’ And this was a time where Zaya took the time to say, ‘I am Black. I am ‘this.’ I am ‘this.’ And I am gay. At the time, Zaya said, ‘I am gay.'”
The revelation did not come as a complete surprise to Dwyane. The celebrity father sensed the difference in his second-oldest child when she was 3-years-old.
“As kids, I used to put on heels. I used to do all those things. I tried to put on whatever my sisters were wearing. Whatever my sisters did, I tried to do those things,” Wade said of his childhood. “So at first, I said to myself, ‘Oh no, I did that. [Zaya’s] just doing the things that I did.’ And then it kept going further and further.”
Things progressed to the degree of Zaya, formerly Zion, telling her parents that she was ready to fully embrace her feminine energy.
“At that moment, everything that I was taught went out the window because now I’m a parent and my sole job, and my sole responsibility, is to make sure that this kid grows up knowing that he’s supported and loved by his father and the other parent,” Wade shared. “I started changing the way I talk. I started changing the way I listen to things. And I started challenging people in a different way.”
Dwyane Wade often credits his daughter as the leader of the family because of her bravery to live authentically in front of the spotlight. Zaya celebrates her fourteenth birthday in May.
Photo: Dwyane Wade/Instagram
