Dwyane Wade is done being hammered over word of his and Gabrielle Union’s decision to split some of their household finances down the middle.
Union became a viral hot topic last month when she disclosed on Bloomberg Originals’ show “Idea Generation” her battle with financial anxiety, despite having a successful acting career and being married to an ex-NBA player who previously made upwards of $200 million during his 16-year career.
“It’s weird to say I’m head of household ‘cause, in this household, we split everything 50/50 … In the other households that each of us have to support, it puts this, there’s always this, like, gorilla on your back that is like ‘You better work b—h…Somebody might not eat,’ ” she said.
For days on end, their agreement was criticized, with some condemning Wade with accusatory comments about him not being the man of his household financially.
Others took aim at the two-time author for seemingly allowing a wealthy man to burden her with paying for a lifestyle he can afford on his own.
The retired Miami Heat player added some clarity to the inner workings of the controversial decision when he appeared on the newest episode of the “Club Shay Shay” podcast with host Shannon Sharpe.
Wade began, “50/50 in our household is — first of all, let’s say I have 20 to 50 responsibilities; my wife have 20 to 50 responsibilities. And when I say that, that means she has her mother, she has her sisters, she has her dad, she has her, she has a lot of things that she’s responsible for. You know what she does? She pays 100 percent of that.”
“You know what I do? I pay 100 percent of my life,” he continued.
The couple has been married since 2014. They share one biological child together, daughter Kaavia James, who was welcomed via surrogacy in 2018, and Wade’s two children, Zaire and Zaya, from his previous marriage.
The Dwade Cellars co-founder revealed their 50/50 split of certain costs came about after a comment struck a nerve with his wife. “I think I said one time, we was in Miami, I said something about it being my house that I paid for. My wife looked at me and said, ‘You will never say that to me again when it’s something we share,’ ” he recalled.
“And so my wife was like, ‘When we move to LA, I got half on it. You will never say my house again.’ She said, ‘You can say that in the arena,’ ” continued Wade.
The Union-Wade family moved from Florida to Los Angeles in 2019. “In our life, our home, 50/50 we purchased it together. Our daughter, anything that goes on with our daughter, 50/50, we share it together. Now it’s some things I pick up versus she pick up, but she does some I do some.”
The Naismith Hall of Fame class of 2023 inductee said that the 50/50 split extends to lavish trips, noting that Union either pays half or puts additional funds on top of what he has covered.
“My wife is a working woman, she’s a boss and an independent woman of her own life … This is my wife. I don’t know about y’all, but I like having a wife that’s like, ‘That’s cool, you can do that. The house we live in’ — thank God the Hidden Hills, nice house, whatever millions,” he began.
“‘We could have had a nice house with my 50 percent too.’ It’d been nice. She was like, ‘Nah, let me put something else on it and let us live a little different,’ ” said three-time NBA championship winner. He later added, “In certain moments that we do better together, we do better together.”
In total, Wade summarized that they split the cost of three things in their lives, their home and Kaavia being the two he disclosed. Social media users, however, still expressed a range of opinions in the comments section of an Instagram page called “Hot Freestyles.” After hearing his side of the story, they wrote:
“So basically she was triggered into going 50/50 because he said “my house” using it against her. GOT IT!” When you get married it should be “we, us,ours” not “Me & mine.”
“Nah Bro! Sis, is stressed. You make triple her income. Give her the deed.”
“Wade is such a weak man it’s embarrassing to watch.”
“Whatever works for anyone, as long as they are happy!!!”
In his defense, one person said, “This man should not have to clarify for a bunch of ppl nowhere near his tax bracket how they split they finances lol. Social media wild.”
After seeing the response to her initially revealing her family’s truth, Union hit back at the criticism in a subtle clapback of her own.
“I love when he matches my energy, 50/50 over here,” she wrote in the caption of an Instagram post featuring her husband. She also took a swipe at critics in a playful post about financial literacy with her daughter that left fans in tears from laughter.
