Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade are proud of the household they have established where love leads the way. The celebrity couple tells PEOPLE how they work to be their daughter Zaya Wade’s biggest cheerleaders.
“We weren’t coming into it like it’s got to be our way,” Gabrielle says. “We’re going to mess up. We’re going to say the wrong thing. But we had to learn and be led.”
Zaya Wade knew she was transgender at 3-years-old. It took the youngster five years to officially come out to her family.
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“I come from a locker room of a macho, male-dominant sport,” Dwyane Wade tells PEOPLE. “But I started learning and I started to watch her,” the celebrity father shares. “And from then on we started having more conversations.”
The conversations and overall support of her family inspired Zaya to live authentically in the public sphere. The youngster came out as transgender to the world in 2019.
Some have chosen to criticize Zaya for confidently enjoying her life. Others have scrutinized Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade for “letting” their daughter embrace an LGBTQ+ lifestyle. Still, unfazed by the haters, Gabrielle and Dwyane support Zaya in all of the efforts.
“Our home will never be a safe space for bigots,” Union shares with PEOPLE. “I look at problematic language as violence and I’m never going to expose anyone I love to violence, whether that be verbal, physical, emotional, or spiritual,” the L.A.’s Finest star declares. “Jerks exist in every area of life. And we function from a place of truth in our household. But if you come at us, oh, be very prepared.”
Zaya Wade and her older brother, Zaire, are Dwyane Wade’s biological children with his ex-wife, Siovaughn Funches. Dwyane also has a son named Xavier from a previous relationship. Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union have one biological child, Kaavia James, together.
Read the Wades’ full interview with PEOPLE when the latest issue of the magazine hits stands on Friday (Apr. 30).
Photo: Gabrielle Union/Instagram
