We’re so proud of Zaya Wade, 13! Dwyane Wade‘s adorable daughter just shot her beautiful stepmom Gabrielle Union, 47, for her latest Self magazine cover which dropped on Thursday, June 18. The Bring It On star was flawless in a salmon pink colored blazer by contemporary designer Jonathan Simkhai, paired with a wide-legged white trouser. Gabrielle was cool and casul as she opted to go barefoot in what appeared to be her tree lined driveway. “Beyond proud of @zayawade shooting her 1st cover,” Gabrielle sweetly captioned her Instagram post on June 18.
“She is a tremendous artist/writer & I’m so happy everyone gets a glimpse of what she can do. Seeing yourself through a child’s eyes is quite illuminating & im grateful we got this opportunity from @selfmagazine,” Gabrielle added going on to include a quote about the Black Lives Matter movement — which she has been vocal about in recent weeks — from her interview with the publication. She said, “The safety of assimilation was an illusion. You cannot price your way out of, educate your way out of, move yourself away from racism, anti-Blackness, discrimination, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia.”
“All of those things exist no matter how successful you are,” Gabrielle, who recently filed a complaint following her experience with racism as a judge on America’s Got Talent, explained. “No matter how you speak. They exist. So this idea of teaching our children to constantly be shape-shifting to make themselves more palatable or less scary for people who are committed to oppressing you anyway, no matter what you do, I rejected it. I started to reject that,” she also said in the interview.
In the other photos, a laughing Gabrielle, who is also mom to 1-year-old daughter Kaavia, can be seen posing amidst bubbles floating in the air. She stunned in a brown and white polka dot swimsuit, showing off her toned abs in a second photo from the shoot. Gabrielle also rocked a sexy trench coat inspired outfit with a black belt, and form fitting black dress. It was so sweet to see the incredible photos shot by Zaya, who just celebrated her 13th birthday. “You are such an inspiration and motivation to get my butt up everyday and fight,” Gabrielle wrote in her brthday tribute. “When I’m weary, frustrated, full of rage, I see your face and your joy and you living your best life and I want that for all of us. I love you sooooo much kid!!”
The shoot comes just weeks after Gabrielle filed the complaint and opened up about her experience with AGT, which lasted for just a season until she was fired. “I signed up for the experience of being a part of a show that hails itself as the biggest stage in the world. Super diverse, and one about giving people an opportunity to shine where they otherwise probably wouldn’t…What could go wrong?” Gabrielle said in a cover story to our sister publication Variety on May 27. “At the end of all this, my goal is real change — and not just on this show but for the larger parent company. It starts from the top down.”