Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union share one big, happy blended family, but it took some work to get there.
During a recent guest co-hosting spot on “Today with Jenna and Friends,” the 43-year-old NBA Hall of Famer shared more insight into the beginnings of his and the 52-year-old actress’ blended family.
While noting that the biggest step in his relationship with Union was when he first introduced her to his kids, he shared that bringing kids into the equation wasn’t easy at first.
“When it’s you and you, like it’s great,” Wade said. “And now you got to enter the kids into the relationship, and that was a little difficult because they were so young. And you don’t know the right time, you don’t know the right verbiage.”
When Wade first began dating Union in roughly 2009, he was a father to two young children, Zaire, now 23, and Zaya, now 18, whom he shares with his ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches. He is also the father of son Xavier, 11, whom he shares with Aja Metoyer, and he is the legal guardian of his nephew, Dahveon Morris, 21. He and Union welcomed daughter Kaavia, 6, together in 2018.
Wade explained that he knew Union was “the one” before he introduced her to his children; however, their first meeting was a little “rough.”
“My kids are so a part of my life, and I went through a very public custody battle with my kids as well,” he continued. “And so they kind of just like came with me. So it was kind of like, ‘alright, stepmom.’”
He added, “She didn’t sign up to be a stepmom necessarily when we first started dating. So it was a little rough early on.”
Things eventually worked out amongst the evolving family unit so well that the kids were a part of Wade’s proposal to the actress.
“If you saw the sign that we put up when I proposed to her, It said ‘Nickie.’ And so I kind of introduced her as Nickie, as like, okay her family calls her this and not Gabrielle Union, the actress, that they probably had some previous conversations in their ear about her.”
The name “Nickie” derives from Union’s middle name, Monique.
After over 10 years of marriage, the retired NBA player had nothing but high praise for his spouse and the family’s ability to “grow with each other.” He described the close bond she has been able to form with his daughter Zaya as one of her loudest cheerleaders.
“She’s been incredible,” Wade said. “And so it’s good to see how everything turned out, but in the beginning….it was rough.”
