Zaya Wade’s Family Shared the Sweetest Tributes for Her 17th Birthday & Each Is Cuter Than the Last
Zaya Wade is being surrounded by so much love on her birthday. The 17-year-old (17!!!) has gotten sweet birthday tributes from dad Dwyane Wade, stepmom Gabrielle Union, and sister Kaavia James, and they’re all so special. It’s a good thing love isn’t a competition, because we’d have the hardest time deciding who had the best post.
Dwyane Wade’s carousel of photos might have had a simple caption, but the message was clear: He is so proud of his oldest daughter. “Seventeen??,” he captioned his post which included stunning photos of his daughter modeling and on the cover of Homme Girls. Because yes, the teen is already a cover star. Plus, there’s the sweetest candid video where Dwyane looks at Zaya with the biggest smile and gives her a side hug.
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Actress Gabrielle Union followed her hubby’s lead, using the caption, “17 ??” on her Instagram post that had even more jaw-dropping shots of Zaya. (Umm … when did she get so grown up?!) Plus, there’s an adorable throwback of Union and Zaya sitting in a field, twinning in matching sweaters, holding hands, and looking at each other with huge grins. Oh, and don’t even get us started on the video where Zaya practices her runway walk and Dwyane and Union lose their minds, hooting and punching the air. “Not all yelling like her runway walk was a basketball game??????,” one person commented. But how could they not?! Zaya really is that fierce.
As for little miss Kaavia James — Zaya’s half-sister and the internet’s “Shady Baby” — she posted the cutest throwbacks from Paris of her and Zaya in front of the Eiffel Tower. In the first shot, Zaya gives her happy little sis a piggyback ride and Kaavia looks anything but shady. “Had your back since day 1 and still got it today!” Kaavia captioned her post. (Well, her parents did it, but, ya know.)
And there’s nothing we love to see more than Zaya being surrounded by so much love in a world that is filled with so much hate. In the comment sections of each post, there are disgusting comments we won’t even dignify by sharing, but there are also celebratory ones that uplift the teen in the best of ways on her big day.
Zaya shared these posts on her Instagram Story as well as videos from an event last week where the Elevate Prize Foundation honored Dwyane and his years of advocacy work around LGBTQ+ rights with the Catalyst Award, per Them.
“I think people feel that because I have a trans daughter that I had this traumatic experience,” he said. “Zaya has been Zaya from day one. Nothing has changed in a sense of how Zaya shows up.”
Now she just shows up as a 17-year-old Zaya. And we can’t wait to see what that Zaya has to offer the world! Happy birthday, Zaya Wade!
These celeb parents are so proud of their LGBTQ kids.
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