Dwyane Wade Explains Why He Blocks Comments on Daughter's Instagram

Dwyane Wade is doing his best to protect his daughter from internet trolls.

15-year-old Zaya Wade recently shared photos from a new Tiffany & Co. campaign, prompting an outpouring of kindness from friends and fans. But far too many bigots have frequently felt the need to spew cruelty at the teenager, just because she’s transgender, and social media is unfortunately a ripe place to send that type of messaging directly to their intended targets.

But Dwyane isn’t interested in exposing Zaya to trolls, and the NBA star explained as much in a recent tweet addressing a request to allow the public to comment on her photos.

“For Zaya’s mental health and privacy we’ve decided not to allow the hate into her comments,” he wrote. “Thank you for wanting to spread and send her love.”

The proud father has spoken candidly over the years about embracing and supporting his daughter on her gender identity journey, even when it’s resulted in a transphobic backlash against him and his wife Gabrielle Union (Zaya’s stepmother).

“We [are] just trying to figure out as much information as we can to make sure that we give our child the best opportunity to be her best self,” he told Ellen DeGeneres back in 2020. “We want [our kids] to be whoever they feel that they can be in this world.”

Giving Zaya and his other children the tools they need to be confident in who they are in a world that might want to tear them down – while also trying to protect them from that world until they are old enough to go out on their own – can’t be an easy task, but Dwyane seems to be doing an admirable job nonetheless.

Zaya herself has spoken out in the past about the types of comments she’s received since coming out as trans, with people telling her who she should be and how she should strive to look — making it sound like even perhaps well-intentioned comments might be doing some damage.

“I don't have to believe everything they say,” she said. “The only thing I have to believe is what I feel and what beauty means to me.”

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