Zaya Wade/instagram; getty
Dwyane Wade said he restricted comments about his daughter zaya wadeon Instagram to protect her from trolls who leave negative comments.
The 40-year-old retired professional basketball player revealed his decision Thursday to put the feature on Instagram, tweeting about it after fans questioned why. the comments area on Zaya’s page was suddenly restricted and they couldn’t post a message.
For Zaya’s mental health and privacy we have decided not to allow hate to enter his comments,” Dwyane said of his 15-year-old daughter. “Thank you for wanting to spread and show her love.”
Many fans tweeted in approval of Wade’s decision. “PERIOD!” wrote one. “And that is putting your child’s well-being first.. She doesn’t need our feedback telling us that she doesn’t stop serving in every photo posted because she has a real strong support system back home and she loves to watch it.”
Another tweeted, “I LOVE this protection for girls. I hope you know you have an entire online community of support from many of us here regardless.”
Since coming out as transgender in 2020, Zaya has received unconditional support from both Wade and her stepmother, gabrielle union.
But Zaya has also spoken about the difficulties she has faced dealing with online criticism and damaging beauty advice.
“As a trans person, once I came out, there were a lot of hate comments about how I should grow my hair long or fit into a certain version of femininity, even though that’s not true at all,” Zaya said in May. , during a joint interview with Union for the Dove Project for Self-Esteem. “That kind of advice is just trying to break you, but don’t let it.”
RELATED: Zaya Wade Shares A First Look At Her Tiffany & Co. Campaign And Reveals Her New Hairstyle
John Salangsang/Shutterstock
For Union, it’s important that she and her husband “try to emphasize” the value of “inner beauty” to Zaya.
“You can be a ‘wonderful’ or a ‘classically beautiful person,’ but if your soul is rotten, you’re not very beautiful at all,” Union said. “We try to emphasize character, compassion, love, acceptance and joy. That hopefully radiates from the inside out. When it comes to how you move through the world, we try to emphasize that there’s not one way. to be a woman or to be feminine.”
Don’t miss any story: subscribe Free daily newsletter from PEOPLE to stay up to date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
As for the biggest lesson she learned from the 49-year-old actress, Zaya said: “It tells me that not everyone in the world and in the media is going to be honest about how you look.”
“I don’t have to believe everything they say. The only thing I have to believe is what I feel and what beauty means to me,” she continued. “I think focusing on inner beauty is the most important thing.”
