Dwyane Wade Supports Gay Son In Powerful Interview: 'You Can Learn Something From Your Kids'

Dwyane Wade knows what’s up!

The former NBA legend is a stay-at-home dad now, and judging by this interview, it sounds like he’s doing a pretty darn good job! Looks like you picked a pretty good one here, Gabrielle Union!

The Chicago native and former Miami Heat star sat down with fellow former NBA stars Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes this week for an interview on the athletes’ podcast, All The Smoke. The whole thing is an interesting listen for basketball fans, but Wade gives a lot of updates about family life and what he’s been doing now that he’s away from the game, and we took special note of one very specific, important part!

At one point in the show, Barnes and Jackson ask Dwyane about his 12-year-old son Zion, who is gay. The trio discuss what it’s been like for Wade and Union to raise a gay son in such a public atmosphere — and it’s so encouraging to hear how the former NBA baller has taken it on so well!

Speaking to the pair about the moment he first noticed Zion might be different from his older son, Zaire, Dwyane Wade recalled (below):

“I had to look myself in the mirror when my son at the time was 3 years old and me and my wife started having conversations about us noticing that he wasn’t on the boy vibe that Zaire [Wade’s older son] was on, and I had to look myself in the mirror and say, ‘What if your son come home and tell you he’s gay? What are you going to do? How are you going to be? How are you going to act? It ain’t about him. He knows who he is. It’s about you. Who are you?'”

Wow!

Gabrielle Union Dwyane Wade gay son interview — The former NBA star gives a lot of credit to his wife in helping him understand how to love and support a gay son. / (c) Dwyane Wade/Instagram

More interesting, the 37-year-old hoops legend credits his wife, the former Bring It On star, with her approach and openness to Zion, because it helped Wade better accept his own son, too:

“I grew up with the same perspective as a lot of these people out here that’s a little ignorant. I grew up with a similar perspective. And you meet people along the way that help you take those glasses off and put on some different ones. Look through life through a different lens. That’s what my wife has been able to do. So, it’s been cool.”

Cool is an understatement!!

Best yet, Barnes and Jackson not only seem accepting of it, they really seem to embrace it! Jackson surprised guests with his own admission, too: the longtime NBA bad boy’s brother is gay, and Jackson spends some time talking about what it was like to grow up with him, and love him no matter what.

Wade also gets super inspirational in the defense of his son, pointing out that the world has changed — for the better — and people better get used to it:

“Everybody get used to it, man. This is the new normal. So if anybody different, we looked at as different. You know what I’m saying? The ones that don’t understand it. The ones that don’t get it. The ones that are stuck in a box. You’re different. Not the people that are out here living their lives, man. You want to talk about strength and courage? My 12-year-old has way more than I have. You can learn something from your kids.”

Wow! Very, VERY well said!!

Ch-ch-check out the full interview (below), with Wade talking about his family beginning at about the 32-minute mark and beyond that: