NAACP Image Award-winning actress Gabrielle Union recently commemorated stepdaughter Zaya Wade’s 15 birthday.
Gabrielle took to Instagram to wish Zaya a happy birthday and shared super cute video footage of the teen’s camp-themed celebration on May 29.
“HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY @zayawade,” the post’s caption said. “We all love you sooooooo much, and you make us proud every single day! You are such a gift and a blessing in all our lives. #CampZaya.”
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Its accompanying video showed Zaya blowing out her cake, posing with her family, and playfully being swung by her dad, former NBA superstar Dwayne Wade, and brother, Zaire Wade, as they tried to throw her into the pool.
“Camp Zaya is in the full effect!” Gabrielle wrote in the clip.
In an Instagram story, she added that she couldn’t believe her stepdaughter was already 15.
“I can’t believe you are 15?!?!?!?!?” she said in the story. She recently opened up to People about her relationship with Zaya and how the two bonded “organically” since she married Dwayne in 2014.
“I think as a stepmom, it’s not my job to push myself into her life or force anything,” she said. “So, time has allowed our bond to grow organically and naturally. Being consistent with each other and being trustworthy with each other also.”
The 49-year-old added that adjusting to Zaya’s gender identity journey helped them become closer. The teen came out as a transgender woman in 2019 at the tender age of 11.
“Zaya coming into truest self did help because I am able to bond with who she actually is versus the representative that was speaking for her for years,” she said. “Now, she is completely herself, and so I know her, not her representative.”
The 15-year-old echoed her stepmother’s sentiments, saying “discovering” herself made the bond between them very tight.
“Me discovering who I am definitely deepened our bond and also other people’s bonds,” she told People.
Gabrielle shares three-year-old daughter Kaavia James with Dwayne and is also a stepmom to his two other children: eight-year-old Xavier and 20-year-old Zaire from previous relationships.
