Dwyane Wade Says Daughter Zaya Has Known Her Gender Identity “Since She Was 3”
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Recently we reported that Dwyane Wade’s 12-year-old daughter, Zaya, came out as transgender, but the former NBA star just revealed that Zaya has known about her gender identity since she was 3 years-old.
“She’s known it for nine years, since she was 3 years old,” Wade, 38, told Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. “And along this way, we’ve asked questions and we’ve learned. But she’s known.”
“I knew early on that I had to check myself,” he added. “That’s what I knew. I knew early on that I had to ask myself questions.”
“I’ve been a person in a locker room that has been a part of the conversation that has said the wrong phrases and the wrong words myself,” Wade said. “As I got older and I watched my daughter grow, I had to go and look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘Who are you? What are you going to do if your child comes home and says, “Dad, I’m not a boy … I’m a trans girl.” What are you going to do?’ That was my moment of real.”
Wade reveals that his daughter Zaya actually educated him and his wife Gabrielle union on what it meant to be transgender. He also shed light on how Zaya first opened up to him,
“‘Hey, I don’t think I’m gay,’ and she went down the list and said, ‘This is how I identify myself, this is my gender identity. I identify myself as a young lady. I think I’m a straight trans [girl] because I like boys.’”