During the early 2010s, Dwyane Wade was in the midst of the most successful period of his professional career with the Miami Heat. While the South Florida franchise was dominating the league on a nightly basis, Wade had a personal battle going on off the hardwood. In his memoir titled A Father First the 6ft 4 combo guard detailed the custody battle that he was embroiled in with ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches and even revealed the wave of emotions he went through after receiving custody of both his kids – Zaire & Zaya.
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After a grueling custody battle that concluded in 2011, the judge ruled in favor of D-Wade and awarded the NBA superstar the sole custody of both children. Despite winning the case, Wade was panicking.
His kids were late in reaching Miami. However, once his sister Tragil affirmed that both his kids were safe and in the car back home, Wade could breathe a sigh of relief. As expected, the Flash’s eyes were filled with tears of joy. Tragil also joined him as the two siblings were happy that the longest custody trial in the history of the Cook County family court finally concluded in their favor.
“In a full sweat, now out of breath, I call Tragil, asking in almost stutters, in a low voice, “Is . . . is everything… are … my kids safe? The minute she tells me they are in the car, sitting in the backseat on the way to the airport, the weight of the world lifts off my chest and now my tears start to fall. We just keep saying, “Oh my God,” so grateful that the struggle is over. I’m crying like a baby for joy and Tragil starts crying like a baby, too,” Wade writes.
The year-long battle was exhausting and also took a mental toll on the Heat All-Star. However, he didn’t hold any grudges against Funches. During this period, Wade would live anxiously. But, the Marquette alum wanted his two children to have a healthy relation with their mother. Hence, he respected the “regular parenting time” that Funches was awarded with despite the latter trying to alienate her children from D-Wade previously in the past.
How DWade won the contentious custody battle
Wade offered his ex-wife joint custody of their two kids. However, the latter turned down the same and sued for sole custody. In 2010, Funches went missing with both the kids. No one was able to locate the three. Hence, this justifiably became a reason for Wade to initiate the lengthy court case.
“The breaking point came in early 2010 when we couldn’t even locate my kids and their mother, the most frightening moment of my life. That was the turning point for me when I decided that I had to seek full custody. If this had to be a fight, then by God, I had to fight for my kids,” Wade wrote.
Wade must’ve been extremely concerned when his kids went missing. However, this also caused the judge to rule the decision in the 2006 FMVP’s favor. The judge saw Funches’ 2010 move as an attempt to “alienate the children from their father,” and hence awarded sole custody to Wade.
