Dwyane Wade discusses ‘challenging’ living situation with son in new memoir
The NBA icon is set to drop a photo-centric memoir featuring his kids, his parents and wife Gabrielle Union.
Dwyane Wade is speaking out about his 8-year-old son Xavier Zechariah and the bond he’s struggling to build with the child.
The retired NBA icon shares his youngest son with a woman from a previous relationship. In his new photographic memoir Dwyane, Wade keeps it real about the challenges that come with co-parenting, PEOPLE reports.
“Xavier doesn’t live with me, so we don’t get to see each other every day like I do with my other kids,” Wade explains in his memoir. “It makes things challenging at times, but it’s my job to make sure he never has to carry that weight.”
Wade is also father to 19-year-old son Zaire Blessing Dwyane and 14-year-old daughter Zaya, both of whom he shares with ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches. He and wife Gabrielle Union also share a 3-year-old daughter, Kaavia James and raised his 20-year-old nephew, Dahveon Morris.
“It’s up to me to make sure he knows he’s being raised with love even if we don’t live under the same roof,” Wade writes of Xavier. “And it’s up to me to let him know that while distance may physically separate us at times, I’m always going to be the man he can depend on to love him and help lead him.”
“What I’ve come to learn over my life is that fatherhood isn’t a monolithic image that looks the same in every household. Each relationship is different. All I’m concerned about with Xavier is him always knowing he’s loved.”
Dwyane features photographs of Wade’s kids, his parents, and his wife.
“I think kids appreciate when you try to get to know them,” Wade told PEOPLE about his parenting style. “And you know what I’ve always tried to do with my kids, from Zaire all the way down to Xavier, from Kaav and Zaya, I try to meet them where they’re at, and I don’t try to always bring them to where I want them to be, or my world.”
He added, “So if Xavier is into Fortnite, then I’m going to try to learn as much about Fortnite as I can to meet him where he’s at so we can have conversations about Fortnite, right?”
In the memoir, Wade dishes about his personal journey to NBA fame. He recently explained why it is important to share his story as a photographic memoir.
“For me, it was about the visuals of it,” he stated in an interview with Black Enterprise.
“I wanted my supporters and the people who have followed me throughout my entire career to get an opportunity to see me in a different light. This book is not just all basketball, it’s a life book. And to me, I feel like pictures say so many things,” he explained.
“When you have context and when you can read about a photo, a moment, when you can see the actual picture, it really gets you to understand a little more, so I had my photographer follow me for the last 10-11 years. I only had him put 200 photographs in the book. There’s many more where that came from. I just wanted to share. Like me and my wife, we do…we share our experiences,” Wade continued.
Dwyane is on bookshelves now.
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