Has Gabrielle Union‘s step-daughter Zaya Wade been bitten by the acting bug? Based on the duo’s latest video on TikTok, she might have been.
Tuesday, the stunning actress posted a clip of the pair recreating a scene from the 1999 movie 10 Things I Hate About You. In this version, the 13-year-old is playing the role of Chastity Church, originally played by Union in the film, while Union takes on the role of Church’s best friend Bianca Stratford, (originally played by Larisa Oleynick).
“Tell us you’ve watched 10 Things I Hate About You without telling us you’ve watched 10 Things I Hate About You,” Union prompts at the top of the video.
READ MORE: Michael Strahan slams ‘Bachelor’ host Chris Harrison for his ‘surface’ response to racism scandal
“We’ll start,” Zaya chimes in, before kicking it off by reciting, “I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?”
“I think you can in Europe,” Union responds, perfectly channeling Stratford.
To which Zaya nods her head and replies, “Right.”
Union, along with her husband, NBA star Dwyane Wade have a tight-knit relationship with their children and are no strangers to posting fun videos on TikTok. But the statement that their visibility and acceptance of their transgender daughter Zaya makes isn’t just fun and games. It also sends a strong message to parents everywhere, particularly Black parents.
As theGrio previously reported, over the holidays, Wade posted two images of his daughter, who came out as transgender last February.
The basketball star captioned the post saying: “Unconditional love, simply put, is love without strings attached,” he wrote. “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??
Earlier that same week, during an episode of Taraji P. Henson‘s new Facebook Watch series, Peace of Mind With Taraji, Union also opened up about her daughter’s journey to discovering her identity.
“Zaya’s peace is non-negotiable,” the actress said on the Dec. 14 episode. “As Zaya gathered more language, she was able to tell us about her identity. She was able to tell us about her sexuality. She was able to tell us, ‘I’m trans.’ And she says, ‘I’ve come out a few times.’”
“She said, ‘Well, I came out to my teacher in the third grade and then [again] when you guys posted that picture of me in Chicago at my birthday party,’” the L.A.’s Finest star explained.
In an interview on the weekly entertainment newsmagazine Central Ave, Wade also expressed his gratitude to Mike Tyson for questioning New Orleans rapper Boosie’s previously disparaging comments on Zaya’s identity.
“I actually talked to Mike about that earlier in the pandemic. We had a conversation and I appreciated it,” the three-time NBA champion said. “He’s one of those people … he’s so smart, he’s so educated and knowledgeable about life and for him to drop that nugget on the world … to me, it was great to hear him say that.”
READ MORE: Kevin Hart’s ‘Fatherhood’ to premiere on Netflix Father’s Day weekend
Wade also stated that he wasn’t offended by Boosie’s comments.
“I’ve never came out and said anything to anybody that feels a certain way about me or someone else in my family, my loved ones because they don’t know us, they don’t know our heart and they definitely don’t know Zaya,” Wade continued. “All I do is what my momma say: just pray for them.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!