Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union-Wade have been receiving support from Magic Johnson‘s family while raising Zaya Wade, who came out as transgender in 2019. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Johnson said his family has been serving as an example by showing love to their own son, EJ Johnson, who publicly came out as gay in 2013.
“We’ve always been people who try to do the right thing and do the thing we were supposed to do,” Magic said. “No way we were not gonna support our son. No way we were gonna not love him, as we tell him, be who you want to be, we gonna love you regardless, we gonna support you. Because of that, Dwyane and Gabs said, ‘Oh man, look at that.’ We are looking at [our] part, do our own thing with our own son, so if we can help anybody just by being who we are, just by doing the right thing, that’s a good thing and a powerful thing.”
Dwyane and Gabrielle were searching for resources when they shared their family’s story with the public in 2019 and announced that Zaya was transgender.
“I just reached out to everyone I knew from social media,” Gabrielle told People in 2021. “Everyone responded with love, resources and information.”
The Cheaper by the Dozen star said her family first reached out to the basketball legend and his wife, Cookie Johnson.
“It’s all about perseverance and putting your family first and loving every member of your family equally and out loud. And they showed us the way,” Gabrielle said. “They gave us the blueprint. And literally, every step of the way, in my career, in his career, they have been there.”
Dwyane also expressed his love for the Johnsons.
“We got an opportunity to see EJ and Zaya embrace. … And to see them embrace and see them be all like, ‘Yo, whatever you need, I got you. I’m here.’ To me, that’s like what Magic and Cookie have been to us as adults,” the Miami Heat legend told ET. “And to see EJ do the same thing to Zaya, it was amazing.”
As Blavity previously reported, Magic recently sat down for an interview with Variety and opened up about his relationship with EJ. The Los Angeles Lakers legend said he first struggled to come to terms with his son’s sexual orientation, but now holds a different perspective.
“He changed me. He was so proud. This dude here is just so proud of who he is,” Magic said about his son. “As I grew older, as my wife talked to me, I couldn’t [judge EJ]. I had to accept who he was and who he wanted to be. He actually helped me get there. Because he was so proud. Cookie said, ‘Look in the mirror.’ I said, ‘You’re right.’ Because I’m proud of who I am. And he got it from me.”
