Walking in your truth can be uncomfortable, especially if that truth hurts someone you love, but the mature saints that are rocking with us in here tonight know that a lie don't care who tell it.
That's exactly why Dwyane Wade made the decision to be honest with his now-wife, Gabrielle Union, early-on about the child that he fathered with his ex, Aja Metoyer, while their relationship was on-break. In a snippet from his upcoming documentaryD Wade: Life Unexpected, Dwyane opened up about how carrying the secret of his newfound paternity ultimately affected his mental health and revealed how he ultimately broke the news to Gabrielle:
"I had a child with someone else and I had to tell her. Hardest thing I've ever had to do is man up and tell Gabrielle Union that I've had a child with somebody else. I couldn't sleep. I wasn't eating."
While I'm not here for praising a man for doing what he's supposed to do, owning your sh*t isn't as easy as it looks and it's admirable to know that Dwyane has now taken responsibility for a mistake that at one point, Gabrielle blamed herself for. In a 2014 interview with Glamour, the actress explained:
"[When Dwyane and I broke up briefly in 2013], it was because of distance and scheduling. I finished filming the show, then I flew to Vegas right away to start shooting 'Think Like a Man Too'. I couldn't take time off, and I missed some quality togetherness we desperately needed."
In the documentary, Dwyane also said that because he is aware of how his actions have hurt the ones he loves in the past, he's intentional about moving differently in the future. Although Dwyane and Gabby's relationship may have hit a rough patch in the past, the athlete says that their focus on moving forward has allowed them to weather the storm:
"When you hold something in that you know is going to come out and you have this information and you know it's gonna f**k somebody's life up, that you care about, that you love, if it don't hurt you, then you're not human. Me and Gab just went through something that you never want to go through and we still came out of it."
Along with their past romantic rifts, the couple says that they have been open about the more controversial times in their life, including but not limited to choosing surrogacy and Dwyane's 12-year-old daughter Zaya's gender transition, simply because it's necessary:
"We're not the only family that deals with all the things we've spoken about. We're not the only family that had to deal with surrogacy, to bring our daughter into the world. We're not the only family that's had to deal with gender expression, gender identity, sexuality, with their child.
"We understand the position we've been put in, especially in our community, and even though it's not always a popular thing to speak out on issues that people are uncomfortable with or not as educated on. But this is the platform that God gave me and my family, so we use it."
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