After Being Accused of Giving Ex-Wife Siohvaughn ‘STDs,’ Dwyane Wade Once Sternly Refuted the Claim: “File a Defamation Suit”

Miami Heat legend Dwayne Wade has been married to American actress Gabrielle Union since 2014. His first marriage with high school sweetheart Siohvaughn Funches ended in 2010, after years of discontent. The two married in 2002, and had two children together Zaya and Zaire. The couple ended up filing for divorce in 2010, which was eventually finalized in 2013. During the proceedings, Funches had accused Dwayne Wade of contracting STDs from outside marriage and infecting her. In his book, “A Father First,” Dwayne Wade explained Funches had spread multiple “untruths” about himself.

Among the numerous allegations made by Siohvaughn Funches during her divorce from Dwyane Wade, one was particularly damaging. She accused him of giving her a sexually transmitted disease. Wade addressed these false claims in his book and even filed a defamation case against Funches. Their contentious relationship has persisted over the years, with Funches recently accusing Wade of exploiting their child’s gender identity for personal gain.

Dwyane Wade ended up filing a defamation case against Siohvaughn Funches

Dwyane Wade faced a range of allegations from his ex-wife, Siohvaughn. One of these claims was that Wade had cheated on her and contracted a sexually transmitted disease, which he then passed on to her.

However, Wade strongly refuted these accusations in his book, stating that there was no truth to them. He described the allegations as part of a larger pattern of falsehoods spread by Funches. Wade believed that these claims were driven by her desire to estrange him from their children.

“Very few people other than those closest to me know how hard this has been on me. My ex had fed the press so many untruths that to this day, some of the public, including loyal basketball fans, aren’t aware they’ve been proven false and retracted. The damage these accusations caused led me to file a defamation suit against her immediately. One of the most damaging of these claims was that I had given her an STD. This was disproven almost immediately and the lawsuit she had used to put that lie out there was withdrawn. But it’s impossible to undo this kind of damage. For the record, the accusation wasn’t true, is baseless, and was eventually seen by the custody judge as part of the all-out effort to alienate the boys from me.”

Wade was eventually able to win complete custody of his two children. Of course, apart from sharing two kids with Funches, he has had multiple other issues related to his ex-wife in recent years.

Siohvaughn Funches accused Wade of trying to use Zaya’s name to make money

While it has been more than a decade since the two parted ways, there seems to be quite a bit of lingering resentment between the two. In November 2022, Funches claimed that Wade was trying to use Zaya’s journey as a transgender as a means to make money.

Funches claimed that Wade had disclosed information about Zaya’s transformation and expressed his desire for her involvement with companies. Wade publicly announced Zaya’s transgender identity on the Ellen DeGeneres show in 2020. As of now, Wade has not responded to these allegations.