Dwyane Wade’s Daughter Zaya Wade Makes Her 1st Red Carpet Appearance [VIDEO]

Dwyane Wade’s Daughter Zaya Wade Makes Her 1st Red Carpet Appearance [VIDEO]

Zaya Wade, 12, stepped out for her first red carpet event over the weekend (March 7th), with her proud parents, former NBA superstar player, Dwyane Wade, and actress Gabrielle Union.  The Wades’ attended the 2020 Truth Awards in support of The Better Brothers Awards ceremony highlighting the accomplishments of the Black LGBTQ+ community and its allies.

Zaya looked beautiful as she posed next to an outdoor pool wearing a radiant green tuxedo jacket with silky black pants, matched with a pink sash and black boots.

Her parents, Dwyane, 38, and Gabrielle, 46, wore outfits that coordinated with Zaya’s red carpet look.

Zaya first took the stage with a smile as she introduced herself to the crowd and was received by with a huge standing ovation by the attendees.

Zaya presented who she called her “Chosen God fathers,” stylist Jason Bolden and his husband Adair with the Business Leadership Award.

During the ceremony, both Gabrielle and Dwyane made speeches, thanking their friends, Bolden and his husband Adair for supporting Zaya.

“It was really important for Zaya’s first red carpet to be celebrating black excellence in her community, real allies show up.”

She adds,

“It goes beyond tweets and retweets and a check here and there. You have to show up and show what actual leadership looks like. You need to know when to shut the hell up and pass the microphone like I’m about to do right now.”

Dwyane then grace the stage, taking the microphone to speak about needing to be more educated on LGBTQ rights,

“When our 8-year-old daughter Zaya Wade came home and said she has something to tell us, when she came out to us as a family, we admit we weren’t educated on the LGBTQ+ community as we should have been.”

He later adds how the family reached out to good friends, Bolden and his husband, who helped navigated them with the right, supportive language.

“So, we immediately picked up the phone and reached out to our good friends Jason and Adair. They helped us navigate the right language to use, the questions to ask, and what to listen for. They also reminded us to make sure Zaya knew her community and felt the love and support inside and outside her home. From working closely with Zaya to design her rooms in our homes to making sure that her authentic self was represented and that her bedroom felt like a sanctuary.”

The following day (March 8th), Dwyane shared a photo of Zaya from their award show outing on Instagram, proudly reintroducing his daughter to his over 16 million followers.

In 2019, Dwyane expressed his support for her publicly and later revealed her gender identity and chosen name during an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show back in February. He recalled:

“Zion, born as a boy, came home and said, ‘Hey, so I want to talk to you guys. I think going forward I am ready to live my truth. I want to be referenced as ‘she’ and ‘her.’ I would love for you guys to call me Zaya.'”

Go Zaya!