Dwyane Wade Discussed His Bitter Divorce With His Ex-Wife: Our Relationship Was Rocky

Dwyane Wade, Siohvaughn Funches

Dwyane Wade Discussed His Bitter Divorce With His Ex-Wife In ESPN Doc

There have been many unexpected turns in NBA champion Dwyane Wade‘s life, as documented in his intimate ESPN documentary, “D. Wade: Life Unexpected.” One of those was the dissolution of his relationship with his high school sweetheart, Siovaughn Funchess. She is the mother of his son Zaire and daughter Zaya. The two tied the knot in 2002, but they quickly realized they weren’t properly equipped for marriage, according to the Miami Heat retiree.

He said in the documentary:

“Siohvaughn Funches was my high school girlfriend. Siohvaughn had her own car, she had a job, money, this and that. We started spending a lot of time together because it got me away from the noise and everything going on at my house.”

Coming from a broken home himself, Dwyane Wade says their issues surfaced when Siovaughn Funches became pregnant with their son Zaire in his sophomore year of college. He said:

“I broke down. [I thought] my career, my life is over…Our relationship was rocky. We got together at 16 years old so we had a lot of differences and we didn’t know how to handle those. I wasn’t a big argument, fight type person because I grew up hearing my parents do that and I didn’t want that to happen to Zaire, so I would just not address it.”

Dwayne Wade with sons Xavier and Zaire, nephew Dahveon, and daughter Zaya (formerly Zion)

He, also, discussed their fiery, public divorce, ending with Dwyane Wade receiving full custody of their young children:

“My divorce was taking forever. She wound up having 13 different lawyers in the process. So every time you get a new lawyer, the case starts over. I’m having a hard time having a relationship with my kids, seeing my kids. A lot of times she would not bring them out and I would have to get the police involved to find her…It became ugly and nasty…My emotions were all over the place because on one hand, you want to celebrate a victory, but on the other end, no one wins. There’s no winner in a custody battle.”

Shortly thereafter, he started dating actress Gabrielle Union would go on to become his wife and the mother of their newest baby, Kaavia.

Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union and their kids

What do you think of Dwyane Wade’s candor on his relationship with his ex-wife? Let us know in the comments.

Written by Miata Shanay