Dwyane Wade Says He's Blocking Comments on Daughter Zaya's Instagram to Protect Her Mental Health

Photo: Zaya Wade/instagram; getty

The retired professional basketball player, 40, revealed his decision on Thursday to put in the Instagram feature, tweeting about it after fans questioned whythe comment areaon Zaya’s page was suddenly restricted and they were unable to post a message.

Since coming out as transgender in 2020, Zaya has received unconditional support from both Wade and her stepmother,Gabrielle Union.

But Zaya has also talked about the struggles she has faced dealing with online criticism and detrimental beauty advice.

John Salangsang/Shutterstock

For Union, it’s important that she and her husband “try to stress” the value of “internal beauty” to Zaya.

“You can be a ‘stunner’ or ‘classically beautiful person’ but if your soul is rotten, you are not very beautiful at all,” Union said. “We try to stress character, compassion, love, acceptance and joy. That hopefully radiates from the inside out. When it comes to how she moves through the world, we try to stress there is no one way to be a woman or to be feminine.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

As for the most important lesson she’s learned from the 49-year-old actress, Zaya said: “Her telling me that not everyone in the world and in the media is going to be truthful about what you look like.”

“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.”

source: people.com