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Earvin “Magic” Johnsonand his son EJ Johnson offered a helping hand toDwyane WadeandGabrielle Unionafter the couple’s daughter Zaya Wade came out as transgender.
For Magic, supporting his friends was only natural. “We’ve always been people who try to do the right thing and do the thing we were supposed to do,” he explained. “No way we were not gonna support our son. No way we were gonna not love him, as we tell him, be who you want to be, we gonna love you regardless, we gonna support you.”
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Dwyane revealed that Zaya, whom he shares with ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches, was transgender in 2019. In April 2021, Uniontold PEOPLEin a joint interview with her husband that the family initially “didn’t have many resources” to rely on.
“So I just reached out to everyone I knew from social media,” Union recalled at the time. “Everyone responded with love, resources and information.”
At the premiere forThey Call Me Magic, Union toldETthat Magic and his wife Cookie Johnson were particularly helpful in assisting her family after Zaya came out.
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“They gave us the blueprint,” she continued. “And literally, every step of the way, in my career, in his career, they have been there.”
Dwyane shared similar sentiments withET. “To me, that’s like what Magic and Cookie have been to us as adults,” he said. “And to see EJ do the same thing to Zaya, it was amazing.”
Ultimately, Johnson said he is thankful that he and his son “have influenced people” both on and off the court. “If we’ve done that,” he toldET, “then we have been a blessing.”
source: people.com
