Dwyane Wade Revealed He ‘Struggled’ With Sharing Daughter Zaya’s Journey in New Documentary

He’s speaking his truth. Dwyane Wade has been very vocal about his 12-year-old daughter Zaya since sharing with the world she is transgender. The former NBA star, 38, expressed on Good Morning America how he wrestled with sharing his daughter’s journey in his new documentary D. Wade: Life Unexpected. Ultimately, he decided to shed light on the topic of gender identity.

“I struggled on how much I wanted to talk about it in the doc, I actually did talk about it a lot, but I knew if I put it in the doc at all it would be a big conversation,” Dwyane said while chatting with Robin Roberts on Tuesday, February 18. “This is no game [for] us. We’re about protecting her heart and about protecting her joy and we have to support them.”

He continued to express how sharing his story could help other families like his. “As parents, it’s our job to sit back and figure out and find the most information that we can. We’ve researched as many things as we can to try to help not only our family but other people in this journey and along the way because one thing we do know as a family, we’ve been through so many things that other families go through and they say, ‘thank you guys for speaking out on it, thank you for being a face and a voice because we can’t.'”

Dwyane reiterated how he hopes he is doing what is best for Zaya. “My daughter was my first interaction when it comes to having to deal with this conversation,” he added. “Hopefully I’m dealing with it the right way — inside our home, we see the smile on my daughter’s face, we see the confidence that she’s able to walk around and be herself and that’s when you know you’re doing right.”

The athlete first shared Zaya’s story on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on February 11.  He recalled the moment Zaya revealed her truth to her father and stepmother Gabrielle Union. “[She] said, ‘Hey, so I want to talk to you guys. I think going forward, I’m ready to live my truth. And I want to be referenced as she and her. I would love for you guys to call me Zaya,’” the athlete retold. “Now, it’s our job to one, go out and get information, to reach out to every relationship that we have.”