‘Bad Move’: Gabrielle Union Says ’50/50′ Was Never About Money — Then Dwyane Wade Reveals the Financial Spiral That Nearly Took Him Down
Once upon a time, Gabrielle Union let the cat out of the bag when she famously shared that she and her husband, Dwyane Wade, “split […] ‘Bad Move’: Gabrielle Union Says ’50/50′ Was Never About Money — Then Dwyane Wade Reveals the Financial Spiral That Nearly Took Him Down
Black News 
Once upon a time, Gabrielle Union let the cat out of the bag when she famously shared that she and her husband, Dwyane Wade, “split everything 50/50” in their household.
The public couldn’t fathom why a successful actress would split the bills with a championship-winning NBA baller, who, at the time, also had made more than $100 million than she had.
Fast-forward three years, and Union has since realized that the need for everything to be equal was a “trauma response” after years of battling with financial anxiety. As it turns out, Wade had his own issues that emerged in their relationship.
Union told the “Balanced Black Girl” podcast in 2025 that “50/50 is, ‘I’m not going to be vulnerable enough to trust you with 100 percent of anything, not my heart, not my cash.’” Upon reflection, she decided to lean more into vulnerability and open her heart.
On March 19, her husband opened up to People magazine about his “financial mistakes,” which began at age 21, and how it took him to get to his lowest point to finally trust someone and get back on track.
To set the tone, it was 2003, and Wade had just been drafted to the Miami Heat, seeing more money than he ever had before. But it all came at a cost that he learned later in life, after earning $196 million throughout his Hall of Fame career.
“I made my first million when I was 21 years old,” he said. “I didn’t trust no one in the beginning. It took me about six to seven years before I even was open to it. And it took me going through a lot of things — lawsuits, divorces, all the things I was going through — and then I opened up to trust someone because I was going to lose everything, I felt like.”
Wade married his high school sweetheart, Siohvaughn Funches-Wade, in 2002. They had two children together: Zaire Wade and Zaya Wade. Their marriage ended in a contentious divorce, finalized in 2010, and as part of the settlement, Wade was granted sole custody and ordered to pay his ex-wife $5 million.
The divorce proceedings were marked by allegations of child abandonment, adultery, and abuse, which emerged during the three years after Wade filed for divorce in 2007.
“It was very hard for me in the beginning to trust,” he continued before adding, “Now you can trust the things they tell you to do when it comes to really shifting your mindset very early — and I think we have to get to the kids earlier now.”
Further looking back on his own journey, Wade said, “I made a lot of mistakes.”
“As an athlete, that’s how we learn,” he says. “We make a mistake, and we know not to do that again. … You can be imperfect. You don’t have to get everything right … but in the midst of making those mistakes, make sure you learn from them immediately.”
He added the message that even though athletes are imperfect, they should learn from their mistakes immediately, which is why he hopes other athletes will learn from his mistakes, build financial literacy, and accept his help on the pipeline from college to professional life and retirement as he joins JP Morgan to launch the Athlete Council financial education drive.
Fans reacted to the news of Wade’s passion to help other athletes as one said, “long overdue. Whoever came up with this is a genius.”
Another person typed, “This is an amazing move forward. Congrats.”
But one person didn’t appear to be so impressed with the idea. “Wade, you made more mistakes than just money issues. You really pulled a bad move against your 1st wife. She was really there for you and you then allowed this 2nd home wrecking wife to be in on the wrongful matter. Shame on you both.”
Wade and his wife, Union, have been married since August 2014, shortly after he welcomed a child with another woman. During their time dating, they went on a break, and Wade welcomed his son, Xavier Wade, with a woman named Aja Metoyer in November 2013.
They eventually moved on, later embracing Xavier as his own, followed by Wade and Union welcoming their daughter Kaavia James Union Wade via surrogate in 2018.
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