Dwyane Wade calls ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches an 'absent parent' after she petitioned to block daughter Zaya's name change: 'The high road has run out of real estate'

• Dwyane Wade called out his ex-wife after she tried to block their daughter's legal name change.
• Wade called her an "absent parent" in a lengthy Instagram post criticizing her petition.

Former NBA star Dwyane Wade called out his ex-wife, Siohvaughn Funches, after she filed a petition attempting to block their daughter Zaya's legal name change.

"While none of us are surprised by Siohvaughn's attempt to fight Zaya's identity and her unwavering attempt to drag my name through the mud, I'm very disappointed that she continuously find ways of centering herself and HER needs, without regard to her children," Wade said in a lengthy Instagram post on Thursday.

"The high road has run out of real estate," Wade wrote, adding that Funches "has decided to pretty much be an absent parent to Zaya ALL ON HER OWN," noting that men often get a "bad rep" for not showing up for their kids, but that's "not the case here."

In 2020, Wade announced that his now 15-year-old daughter, Zaya, is transgender. On Wednesday, Funches filed a petition objecting to Zaya's legal name and gender change, alleging that Wade was "positioned to profit" from her name change and "may be pressuring" Zaya to do so for financial gain, People reported.

"No one in our house would ever force Zaya or any of our children to do anything against their will, much less force an identity on them," Wade said in his Instagram response.

Wade said in the post that he has given his ex-wife every opportunity to reach out to Zaya's teachers, doctors, and therapist and to meet her friends "so she could get her own understanding of our child's needs," but he said Funches has repeatedly not shown up to support her daughter at school functions or recitals.

Wade also said that Zaya has given Funches "every opportunity to try to get to know her," which he said Funches has denied. He added that he has "yet to see her make any sacrifice or effort to leave her own home to participate in her children's lives in over a decade."

Wade added that Zaya has a "4.0 GPA in honors classes," and she has been "navigating all this unsolicited and harmful attention and debates about her gender and sexuality from those who are committed to not listening to her."

"Zaya is not that same 3 year child anymore and she's screaming that to the world but most important to her Mother!" Wade wrote.

Wade and his wife Gabrielle Union have been outspoken in their support for Zaya after she came out as transgender.

In an interview with Time in 2020, Wade and Union praised Zaya's authenticity, with Union revealing that Zaya "has freedom to be exactly who she is, who she was born to be, to be her most authentic self."

"She doesn't ask permission to exist. That is wildly inspiring," Union said at the time.

And in October, Wade revealed that he had restricted the comments on Zaya's Instagram page so as to "not to allow the hate into her comments."

Wade and Funches married in 2002, but divorced in 2007. They share two children together: 20-year-old son Zaire, and Zaya. Wade married Union in 2014.