November 20, 2021 • 8 mins
NBA star Dwyane Wade discusses his photographic memoir "Dwyane," reveals his passion for performing karaoke and reflects on his loving support for his young daughter's trans identity.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Comedy Central. Wait, welcome to the show Man.
Thank you, and good to have you here with like,
you know, a book that I didn't know what to
expect when I started reading it, But it feels like
a memoir in pictures. It feels like a story of
your life and some of your inner monologue thoughts, like
what inspired this version of the book it is, That's
(00:21):
exactly what it is. I didn't I didn't want to
go at it from a standpoint of like just words
on a on a paper. I've done it once and
it was great, But like this time, sitting down thinking
about my responsibility in my role, and I take it
very seriously, um as a public figure, and you know,
I just understanding that little Duyanes needs something to see,
(00:41):
you know, like reading something that is great. But when
they can actually see the image of the of of something,
of someone, I think that right there is more powerful.
So for me, it was important that I showed the
human side of you know, what people look at as
an athlete because they make but I'm a human and
so I wanted to show a little bit of that.
It's a beautiful book divided into quarters. You know, uh,
(01:02):
you know, like your life has been this game that
you've been playing out. I was a little disappointed because
I was like, well, it can't be four quarters because
your life is not finished yet, so then the next
one's gonna be over time. You realize that, right, didn't
think of that. I didn't think of writing another book.
This is your life? Do you ever think about that?
As an athlete? It's like, you know, a lot of
the time, for athletes and for the public, sometimes your
(01:24):
life ends when your career ends. You know, do you
ever think about that? And and how hard it is
to think about your next journey as a human being.
I mean, I know, you know, you're a husband, you're
a dad, you're a businessman now, But were you ever worried?
Was there a moment where you were like, man, who
is Dwayne Wade without the ball? Who's Dayne Wade without
the hoops? One percent? Basketball is what I know, right
(01:45):
from the standpoint of focused my whole life on trying
to be great. If you're trying to be great as something,
you understand it. It takes all of your your attention,
It takes all of your time. And once I got
to like my last year when I was like, all right,
I think I'm ready to walk away. I was like,
what am I going to do next? And everybody tells
you a long way, you're gonna be fine. You're gonna
have so many things going on, You're like, how where?
(02:05):
And you know, I took a few took a few
months off, maybe like two or three months, and then
I just said, you know what, talk on my team,
and let's say let's get back to it. Let's just
hit the ground runner. Let's take meetings and let's just see,
let's see where my interests lies. Because I didn't know.
You know, all I know is I loved the game
of basketball, and I enjoy business, and I enjoy making money.
I enjoy creating things. I enjoy designing things. So for me,
(02:26):
it was like, let's fine, what that next step is?
So I feel that I'm in my rookie season in
life again. I'm in the pre games, I'm in the
pregame again, and in this in this new this new step,
this new walk. If I if I had guests before
reading the book and someone said to me, okay, what
are Dwyane Wade's passions? I would have gone, Okay, basketball
is definitely one of them. I would have said fashion,
it is definitely one of them, you know. It's never
(02:47):
been afraid to take a chance. You know, I would
have said wine is one of them. You know. But
one thing I would have never said before reading the
book was karaoke. Oh you you're a humble person. But
the one thing you have no humility about it if
you you call yourself the greatest karaoke singer in the league. Well,
it's just like when I was in the league. Yeah,
(03:07):
you know, I'm out a league. I'm I'm gonna go.
Oh you just to go. It's not that it's not
that I can sing. I cannot sing, to say my life.
It's that I will get up on stage anywhere to
sing karaoke. Like I'll go to local bars and just
jump on stage. That's that's the kind of person I am. Wow,
I gotta know the song, but you know what I mean? Yeah,
but you you just do it anywhere. Your favorite song,
(03:28):
like what is like Dwyane Wades, Well, my wife told
me I made a new song because I've been doing
the same one for about six seven years. What was
that song with Mantel Joy? And this is how you
know it's easy? Well, I like my mantel Jordan because
it brings the energy. Everybody know the words, even if
you don't know the words, you know some of the words,
and so it's kind of crowd participation. And I don't
have the sing I can deep voice it. So well, yeah,
(03:50):
I love it, man, I love it. I did like
the human side of your story with Lebron. You know,
I wasn't in I wasn't in the U S when
when the whole move to Miami happened. I wasn't in
the US of that chaos. What do you think was
the biggest thing that people missed from Lebron coming to Miami?
You know, you you you share a few thoughts in
the book that I really enjoyed. You know, the conversation
you had. What were you trying to you were trying
(04:11):
trying to achieve? What do you think people missed in
that story? What do you think that you know, people
just didn't understand about that move and the Big Three? Well,
I mean, I'm sure it's a lot that that people
didn't understand, you know, didn't understand. I mean as athletes,
you know, when you're you're touted as one of the
goods and the greats in the game. They say, these
(04:31):
are the things you have to accomplish. You have to
get rings, you have to get and repeat, like it's
all these things. And so you can't knock someone for
for listening to that and going out and making sure
that you put the best team around you right to win.
So I think at that time, you know, I was
I had one of a championship with twenty four. I've
been losing, losing, losing, losing. I was tired of that
Lebron you know for seven years is you know he's
(04:52):
got he got close ones, but he was ready to
like get over that hunt. Right Chris Boss was an
emergent star in Toronto, um, and he was ready to
get a little bit more, a little bit more attention.
So I just feel like, man, just to be young
and to decide as young man that we want to
do this as friends. Um. You know, we understood at
that moment that we were shifting the culture of what
the NBA was that it has will never be the same.
(05:15):
Clear empowerment, that's what that move was about. Your life
has been one that is filled with both tragedy and triumph.
I I can't help wondering if that's why you've been
as dedicated to your family as you have been. You know,
it feels like Dwayne Wade has gone like, I want
to win championships on the court, but I want to
win championships at home as well. And you know I
see that. You know, with for instance, your son's I
(05:36):
was playing in the game. Now you've seen your face
light help when you watch him when you play against him.
And I've also seen like the journey that you've been
on with your daughter and just like talking through the
challenges of having a child who's trans and learning about it,
and I want to know a little bit more about that.
Everyone thinks the journey to understanding trans people and the
conversation happens overnights. It wasn't overnight for you, and you
(06:00):
had to learn if you would have talked to another
parent out there or somebody who just goes like Dwayne,
this is just I don't get this is wrong, this
is I don't get it. What helped you to begin
to understand so that you could be the best parent
to her? Well, I think when when things happen personally
to you, when you have a personal connection to something
or someone, um you take it a little bit more serious.
(06:23):
But when it happens to you, you have to you
have to look it in the face. You have to,
you know, right on, like my daughter looking at me
across the table. I have to this is something I
need to deal with, right in the sense of I
don't know everything you know, and as a parent, you
want to make sure that your kids come to you.
You have answers, you know what I mean, You have
the right words, you have the right you know, support
(06:44):
whatever it is, you have the right motivation. And so
at that moment I had no answers. The only answer
that I knew and that I had that this is
my child. I love him, and I hate the pain
that my child is in, right, you know, send send
the pain of you know, not being able to feel,
you know, confident and comfortable in who you are. You
know that's not you don't want to see. No one
(07:05):
live like that, no one you love. And so immediately
when the hug and embrace and you see the just
the light, like I seek Zaya's light and for me
to to to be in a place where I'm not
trying to dim her light. I'm trying to move out
the way and let her get all the light. I
just see a beautiful, you know, blossoming fourteen year old
(07:25):
girl who's you know, trying to find you know, trying
to pass her her test at school, just like everybody else.
She's trying to find friends that are new, you know,
this year, going back to school like everyone else. And
you know, my wife and I you know, our whole
role and our whole job, and we understand this is
you know, to provide, to protect, to love, um, to facilitate.
(07:45):
You know, we have all these rules. Is not to
to to to own. It's not to say you're gonna
be this and you're gonna do that. Just to find
out who they are, so I know what they're likes
and you know, and and whatever they're dislikes and try
to help them, you know, through life. You know, they
can find themselves. Not about us, you know, I mean,
it's not about us. And talk to accept as a parent. Man.
(08:06):
But you're doing it. Dwayne Wade, thank you again for
joining me on the show. Congratulations. This is this is
a really fantastic coffee table book slash memoir ish vibe,
and I'm excited to see what overtime is gonna bring
men congratulations, thank you mining Oh you got it and
that was quick. Still got those reflects. I like that.
Dwayne Wade's new book, Dwayne is available now. Wat's The
(08:28):
Daily Show weeknights at eleven ten Central on Comedy Central.
In stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has
been a Comedy Central podcast wo
You're listening to Comedy Central. Wait, welcome to the show Man.
Thank you, and good to have you here with like,
you know, a book that I didn't know what to
expect when I started reading it, But it feels like
a memoir in pictures. It feels like a story of
your life and some of your inner monologue thoughts, like
what inspired this version of the book it is, That's
(00:21):
exactly what it is. I didn't I didn't want to
go at it from a standpoint of like just words
on a on a paper. I've done it once and
it was great, But like this time, sitting down thinking
about my responsibility in my role, and I take it
very seriously, um as a public figure, and you know,
I just understanding that little Duyanes needs something to see,
(00:41):
you know, like reading something that is great. But when
they can actually see the image of the of of something,
of someone, I think that right there is more powerful.
So for me, it was important that I showed the
human side of you know, what people look at as
an athlete because they make but I'm a human and
so I wanted to show a little bit of that.
It's a beautiful book divided into quarters. You know, uh,
(01:02):
you know, like your life has been this game that
you've been playing out. I was a little disappointed because
I was like, well, it can't be four quarters because
your life is not finished yet, so then the next
one's gonna be over time. You realize that, right, didn't
think of that. I didn't think of writing another book.
This is your life? Do you ever think about that?
As an athlete? It's like, you know, a lot of
the time, for athletes and for the public, sometimes your
(01:24):
life ends when your career ends. You know, do you
ever think about that? And and how hard it is
to think about your next journey as a human being.
I mean, I know, you know, you're a husband, you're
a dad, you're a businessman now, But were you ever worried?
Was there a moment where you were like, man, who
is Dwayne Wade without the ball? Who's Dayne Wade without
the hoops? One percent? Basketball is what I know, right
(01:45):
from the standpoint of focused my whole life on trying
to be great. If you're trying to be great as something,
you understand it. It takes all of your your attention,
It takes all of your time. And once I got
to like my last year when I was like, all right,
I think I'm ready to walk away. I was like,
what am I going to do next? And everybody tells
you a long way, you're gonna be fine. You're gonna
have so many things going on, You're like, how where?
(02:05):
And you know, I took a few took a few
months off, maybe like two or three months, and then
I just said, you know what, talk on my team,
and let's say let's get back to it. Let's just
hit the ground runner. Let's take meetings and let's just see,
let's see where my interests lies. Because I didn't know.
You know, all I know is I loved the game
of basketball, and I enjoy business, and I enjoy making money.
I enjoy creating things. I enjoy designing things. So for me,
(02:26):
it was like, let's fine, what that next step is?
So I feel that I'm in my rookie season in
life again. I'm in the pre games, I'm in the
pregame again, and in this in this new this new step,
this new walk. If I if I had guests before
reading the book and someone said to me, okay, what
are Dwyane Wade's passions? I would have gone, Okay, basketball
is definitely one of them. I would have said fashion,
it is definitely one of them, you know. It's never
(02:47):
been afraid to take a chance. You know, I would
have said wine is one of them. You know. But
one thing I would have never said before reading the
book was karaoke. Oh you you're a humble person. But
the one thing you have no humility about it if
you you call yourself the greatest karaoke singer in the league. Well,
it's just like when I was in the league. Yeah,
(03:07):
you know, I'm out a league. I'm I'm gonna go.
Oh you just to go. It's not that it's not
that I can sing. I cannot sing, to say my life.
It's that I will get up on stage anywhere to
sing karaoke. Like I'll go to local bars and just
jump on stage. That's that's the kind of person I am. Wow,
I gotta know the song, but you know what I mean? Yeah,
but you you just do it anywhere. Your favorite song,
(03:28):
like what is like Dwyane Wades, Well, my wife told
me I made a new song because I've been doing
the same one for about six seven years. What was
that song with Mantel Joy? And this is how you
know it's easy? Well, I like my mantel Jordan because
it brings the energy. Everybody know the words, even if
you don't know the words, you know some of the words,
and so it's kind of crowd participation. And I don't
have the sing I can deep voice it. So well, yeah,
(03:50):
I love it, man, I love it. I did like
the human side of your story with Lebron. You know,
I wasn't in I wasn't in the U S when
when the whole move to Miami happened. I wasn't in
the US of that chaos. What do you think was
the biggest thing that people missed from Lebron coming to Miami?
You know, you you you share a few thoughts in
the book that I really enjoyed. You know, the conversation
you had. What were you trying to you were trying
(04:11):
trying to achieve? What do you think people missed in
that story? What do you think that you know, people
just didn't understand about that move and the Big Three? Well,
I mean, I'm sure it's a lot that that people
didn't understand, you know, didn't understand. I mean as athletes,
you know, when you're you're touted as one of the
goods and the greats in the game. They say, these
(04:31):
are the things you have to accomplish. You have to
get rings, you have to get and repeat, like it's
all these things. And so you can't knock someone for
for listening to that and going out and making sure
that you put the best team around you right to win.
So I think at that time, you know, I was
I had one of a championship with twenty four. I've
been losing, losing, losing, losing. I was tired of that
Lebron you know for seven years is you know he's
(04:52):
got he got close ones, but he was ready to
like get over that hunt. Right Chris Boss was an
emergent star in Toronto, um, and he was ready to
get a little bit more, a little bit more attention.
So I just feel like, man, just to be young
and to decide as young man that we want to
do this as friends. Um. You know, we understood at
that moment that we were shifting the culture of what
the NBA was that it has will never be the same.
(05:15):
Clear empowerment, that's what that move was about. Your life
has been one that is filled with both tragedy and triumph.
I I can't help wondering if that's why you've been
as dedicated to your family as you have been. You know,
it feels like Dwayne Wade has gone like, I want
to win championships on the court, but I want to
win championships at home as well. And you know I
see that. You know, with for instance, your son's I
(05:36):
was playing in the game. Now you've seen your face
light help when you watch him when you play against him.
And I've also seen like the journey that you've been
on with your daughter and just like talking through the
challenges of having a child who's trans and learning about it,
and I want to know a little bit more about that.
Everyone thinks the journey to understanding trans people and the
conversation happens overnights. It wasn't overnight for you, and you
(06:00):
had to learn if you would have talked to another
parent out there or somebody who just goes like Dwayne,
this is just I don't get this is wrong, this
is I don't get it. What helped you to begin
to understand so that you could be the best parent
to her? Well, I think when when things happen personally
to you, when you have a personal connection to something
or someone, um you take it a little bit more serious.
(06:23):
But when it happens to you, you have to you
have to look it in the face. You have to,
you know, right on, like my daughter looking at me
across the table. I have to this is something I
need to deal with, right in the sense of I
don't know everything you know, and as a parent, you
want to make sure that your kids come to you.
You have answers, you know what I mean, You have
the right words, you have the right you know, support
(06:44):
whatever it is, you have the right motivation. And so
at that moment I had no answers. The only answer
that I knew and that I had that this is
my child. I love him, and I hate the pain
that my child is in, right, you know, send send
the pain of you know, not being able to feel,
you know, confident and comfortable in who you are. You
know that's not you don't want to see. No one
(07:05):
live like that, no one you love. And so immediately
when the hug and embrace and you see the just
the light, like I seek Zaya's light and for me
to to to be in a place where I'm not
trying to dim her light. I'm trying to move out
the way and let her get all the light. I
just see a beautiful, you know, blossoming fourteen year old
(07:25):
girl who's you know, trying to find you know, trying
to pass her her test at school, just like everybody else.
She's trying to find friends that are new, you know,
this year, going back to school like everyone else. And
you know, my wife and I you know, our whole
role and our whole job, and we understand this is
you know, to provide, to protect, to love, um, to facilitate.
(07:45):
You know, we have all these rules. Is not to
to to to own. It's not to say you're gonna
be this and you're gonna do that. Just to find
out who they are, so I know what they're likes
and you know, and and whatever they're dislikes and try
to help them, you know, through life. You know, they
can find themselves. Not about us, you know, I mean,
it's not about us. And talk to accept as a parent. Man.
(08:06):
But you're doing it. Dwayne Wade, thank you again for
joining me on the show. Congratulations. This is this is
a really fantastic coffee table book slash memoir ish vibe,
and I'm excited to see what overtime is gonna bring
men congratulations, thank you mining Oh you got it and
that was quick. Still got those reflects. I like that.
Dwayne Wade's new book, Dwayne is available now. Wat's The
(08:28):
Daily Show weeknights at eleven ten Central on Comedy Central.
In stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has
been a Comedy Central podcast wo
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