Source: Andrew Toth / Getty
The support Zaya Wade’s been receiving from her dad Dwyane Wade hasn’t been felt from her mother.
Zaya’s mother, Dwyane’s ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches-Wade, has objected to changing Zaya’s gender and issuing a new birth certificate.
According to legal documents obtained by The Blast, Funches-Wade claims that the co-parenting custody order requires that she be consulted for any major parental decisions regarding Zaya, including that the former married couple “shall discuss with and obtain input in the major decisions affecting care, welfare, activities, health, education and religious upbringing.”
Siohvaughn says it goes beyond the decision-making, and Zaya officially changing her gender has monetary benefits in the form of a bag from Disney.
Represented by celebrity attorney Mark Gross, the documents say that the 3-time NBA champ “is positioned to profit from the minor child’s name and gender change with various companies through contacts and marketing opportunities including but not limited to deals with Disney.”
Wade got wind of the allegations and was dismayed that family turmoil had to be handled publicly but affirmed that Zaya has the right to discover her identity. In an Instagram post, he explains that Siohvaughn was given countless opportunities to learn who Zaya is and meet important people in her life but has failed to do so.
“Since this must be the new way of parenting, I guess I have to address these allegations here, which is a damn shame,” Wade wrote while on vacation in Africa. “I’m very disappointed that she continuously finds ways of centering herself and HER needs, without regard to her children. I’ve given her the opportunity to reach out to Zaya’s teachers, doctors and therapist over the years and even meet her friends, so she could get her own understanding of our child’s needs for her LIFE! She won’t do it!”
