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Dwyane Wade is finally telling the story behind the iconic “banana boat” photo.
The former Miami Heat star created the viral image in 2015 when he was on vacation with his wife Gabrielle Union, and NBA stars LeBron James and Chris Paul. Wade shared that it was his wife who was interested in taking the banana boat ride.
“My wife wanted to go on a banana boat,” said Wade on Pardon My Take. “So, Chris Paul, Bron, and I all got on a banana boat. Now, we were in the middle of nowhere, no one was supposed to know this but us.”
Wade shared that the photo was not planned and if it was he would have tried to look “cooler.”
“Someone took a photo from God knows where. No one was supposed to have seen us on a banana boat!” Wade added, “First of all, if I knew they were taking a photo, we would have looked a little cooler.”
He revealed that former NBA star Carmelo Anthony was not in the photo but he was on the trip. Anthony had joined the trip after the photo was taken and even though he is not in the photo, he is still considered a member of the iconic “Banana Boat Team.”
Gabrielle Union Shares How Dwyane Wade's Cancer Diagnosis Impacted Their Marriage
Wade and Union have been married since 2014 and they share a daughter, Kaavia James. The three-time NBA champion also shares two children with ex-wife Siovaughn Funches: Zaire, 22, and Zaya, 17, as well as a son, Xavier, 11, with Aja Metoyer. The former Miami Heat star is also the legal guardian of his nephew, Dahveon Morris, 21. Last year, Wade shared that doctor's found a cancerous tumor in his kidney back in 2023. He shared his diagnosis for kidney cancer last year where doctor's had to remove 40% of his right kidney but he is now cancer-free.
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“It was year nine of our marriage and … year nine was very hard,” Union said during an appearance back in February on Today with Jenna & Friends.
“When you mention year nine being hard, he hadn’t revealed his cancer diagnosis and his own cancer journey, so now we can put it in more context,” Union continued.
Union shared that Wade went through a lot of emotional turmoil after getting the diagnosis.
“It was obviously him getting that diagnosis was traumatic for him: Being faced with your own mortality in your early forties, and you’re like, ‘Am I going to be here to see my family? Who am I without this big life, and without this healthy body?’” she revealed.
“But you also don’t understand the journey and the toll that it takes on your marriage, on your family, on your kids,” she concluded.
She shared how much she admired her husband's strength during that time and why they waited to share his diagnosis.
“That level of vulnerability, to go through removal of a good chunk of his kidney and the healing that involved, he needed us to be OK with his vulnerability. But more than that, he needed to be OK with his vulnerability,” she said. “It was a challenge to give grace and receive it.”
