Dwyane Wade Recalls Asking 'Why Is My Child Scared' After Zaya Physically Hid from Him After Coming Out

Dwyane Wade recalled his daughter's demeanor as she came out as trans to him at the age of 12, and explains why it made him want to learn and grow

Dwyane Wade is opening up about a moment that led him to reflect on his parenting.

On Tuesday, the retired NBA star, 41, appeared in a discussion with Chris Paul and executive Lisa Metelus at a Creative Artists Agency Amplify event in Ojai, California.

The subject of the "landmark moment" when daughter Zaya, 16, came out to him as transgender at 12 years old was raised.

Wade explained that he was prepared for some kind of coming out years prior as Zaya described herself as gay in a school assignment.

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When the moment came, however, "It was fear in my child's face to tell me."

"So I came home and I just remember my child being scared to talk to me, like hiding in my wife's arm in a chair," he said, recalling that wife Gabrielle Union was also there. "I think I'm this dad that's like, 'Hey, come and tell me anything! I'm a cool dad.'"

"And so I had to check myself," he continued. "I had to go look myself in the mirror and ask myself: 'Why was my child scared? Scared to tell me something about herself?'"

Wade has been committed to learning and becoming an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community since, listening to both his daughters' experiences and expert opinions.

"In a lot of work as parents — and as people — what we do is we put our fears and everything on our kids. And I guess I was doing that," he said. "So I had to go look myself in the mirror and ask myself... What is it about my masculinity that has my child afraid?"

The father of four — who is also dad to Kaavia James, 4, Xavier Zechariah, 9, and Zaire, 21 — also addressed the backlash he's faced since Zaya came out publicly, noting, "The world went crazy."

Wade admitted that the family has struggled with the public's "miseducation" on what it is to be trans.

"I became all kinds of things because I support my child and being who she is. I've become 'gay,'" he leveled. "I think the hardest part about it is shutting out the world and shutting out the people that really are not in (our) circle, But they have opinions and we are public-facing family."

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