Celebrity2 min(s) read
Published 20:47 24 Dec 2020 GMT
Dwayne Wade pays tribute to 13-year-old daughter in touching post about 'unconditional love'
Dwayne Wade has paid tribute to his 13-year-old daughter in a touching Instagram post all about "unconditional love".
In a post made to his 17.1 million Instagram followers, the 38-year-old retired NBA superstar uploaded two pictures of his daughter Zaya on Sunday (December 20).
Watch Dwayne talk about his daughter in this recent appearance on Ellen:
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In a lengthy and heartfelt caption, the ex-Miami Heat player wrote:
"Unconditional love, simply put, is love without strings attached. It's love you offer freely.
"You don't base it on what someone does for you in return. You simply love them and want nothing more than their happiness. This type of love, sometimes called compassionate or agape love. [sic]"
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Suffice it to say, a number of Dwayne's fans and followers were deeply appreciative of his post and took to the comments to share their love for Zaya, defend her from transphobic trolls, and praise Wade's open-mindedness and amazing parenting skills.
For instance, one Instagram user wrote: "its sad how many people want him to cut off his own kid, people be really mad at this dude for not being a deadbeat dad. 2020 wild. [sic]"
It's clear that Wade is a loving and devoted father who is very supportive of Zaya, who came out as transgender earlier this year.
Discussing his family's reaction to the revelation in a recent interview with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, Wade stated: "First of all, me and my wife, Gabrielle Union, we are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community, and we’re proud allies as well.
"We take our roles and our responsibilities as parents very seriously."
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Wade continued: "You want to talk about strength and courage - my 12-year-old has way more than I have.
"We want them to be whoever they feel that they can be in this world. That’s our goal. Understand you can be whoever and you can be whatever.
"Me and my wife are having conversations about, you know, us noticing that, you know, Zion [Zaya's pre-transition name] wasn’t on the boy vibe that Zaire was on."
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He added: "I had to look myself in the mirror and say: 'What if your son comes home and tell you he’s gay? What are you going to do? How are you going to be? How are you going to act?' It ain’t about him. He knows who he is. It's about you. Who are you?"