“She’s known it for nine years. She’s known since she was 3 years old,” Wade, 38, said. “Along this way we’ve asked questions and we’ve learned. But she’s known.”
Asked how long he’s known, Wade said that he was keenly conscious in the beginning of one thing and one thing only: that he needed to confront some of his own biases and open himself up to his child’s feelings.
“I knew early on that I had to check myself,” he explained. “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 continued. “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.”
Dwyane Wade Says 12-Year-Old Daughter Zaya Knew Gender Identity When She Was 3 Years Old
