Dwyane Wade has reflected on a difficult period in his life with Gabrielle Union that almost ended their relationship. In an interview with Shannon Sharpe on her podcast Club Shay Shay podcast, Wade, 41, shared when he had to reveal to Union, 50, during a break in their relationship, that he fathered his son Xavier with another woman. During their relationship, back in 2013, Wade said that he decided to end things between them, thinking that would be in their best interest.
“I tried to pussyfoot around it, I tried to break up with her,” Wade explained to Sharpe about Union. “‘Hey, things have been bad lately,’ ‘Hey, we’ve been having a little distance in our relationship anyway,’ I tried all of that. She kept showing up.” Wade knew he needed to have a challenging conversation with the Bring It On star about fathering a child with someone else.
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“You’re thinking about it all, it’s all scary,” Wade said. “One, the whole situation is scary enough, you’re a public figure. But you know that this is going to hurt someone that you’ve been building a relationship with and a life with.” He added, “No matter what people say on the outside, or what people want to think, ultimately you gotta sit with you, and you gotta sit with this person, and I had to sit with my wife and have this conversation.”
Although the turbulent period occurred during the playoffs, the NBA Hall of Famer said he couldn’t have gone through the situation without Union’s support. After overcoming their private struggles, the couple were engaged in December 2013 and married in August 2014. In 2018, they welcomed daughter Kaavia James Union-Wade via surrogate after struggling with infertility for years.
Wade has two children with ex-wife Siovaughn Funches, Zaire, 21, and Zaya, 16, as well as Xavier, 9, with Aja Metoyer, and is the legal guardian of his nephew, Dahveon Morris. “It hasn’t been perfect, it will never be perfect, but that was nine years ago,” Wade confessed about their prior relationship issues. “We go to therapy, we’ve had shouts about it, we’ve had regular conversations about, and so it’s been something that going to be something that I have to work at and work on.” He added, “It doesn’t go away because years come or because I say ‘sorry.’”
