Former NBA star, Dwyane Wade, has been embracing his trans daughter’s transition over the last couple of years since he publicly explained that she had asked her and his wife, Gabrielle Union, to use female pronouns when referring to her because she sees herself as a girl. Wade and Union happily complied. Zaya was 12 years old at the time, though Wade explains that Zaya has known her true identity since she was just three years old.
However, as initially reported by The Blast, Wade’s ex-wife, Siohvaughn Funches-Wade, is now fighting against a legal petition that will allow Zaya to change her name and gender, something Funches-Wade claims is motivated by financial gain as opposed to the overall well-being of Zaya.
In a statement through her lawyer, Funches-Wade clarifies that Dwyane is “positioned to profit from the minor child’s name and gender change with various companies,” further citing that Disney is one of those companies. She also claims that she was informed by Dwyane himself, in April of this year, that “he intended to make our child very famous due to the name and gender issue.”
Funches-Wade expressed concern over her child, who is presently 15, stating that Zaya should be offered the opportunity at age 18, when she is more mentally mature, to make such a major decision. The statement adds that Funches-Wade “has strong concerns that Dwyane Wade may be pressuring or incentivizing the minor child with lucrative financial opportunities in order to proceed with this instant petition.”
In the original petition filed in August, Dwyane Wade claimed that he had full authority over the decision to change Zaya’s legal name and gender.
Zaya, meanwhile, has become something of a celebrity herself thanks in part to her famous father and stepmother. She nor her father have yet commented on the objection filed by Siohvaughn Funches-Wade but we will keep you further informed as the story develops.
