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Dwyane Wades mom, Jolinda Wadehave more than one reason to be proud of his son.
The 70-year-old pastor opened about how her only son was there for her for some of her darkest moments during a special segment on Today with Jenna & Friends On Monday 7 July.
As the retired NBA star is hosted for the morning show this week, co-host Jenna Bush Hager surprised him with a special pre -recorded message from “Mama Wade.”
“You are and have always been a blessing.” The mother of four shared. “A blessing for me and so many others whose life you have touched.”
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A special blessing that she recalled was how Dwyane kept in touch with her while she was in prison.
“I remember how we became pen friends when I was imprisoned,” she reflected. “Your letters got me through every day and made it possible for me to be a part of all the wonderful things that happened in your life.”
She praised the father for five for his journey as a father.
“When you sent pictures of my grandson Zaire I could tell from your letters how very proud you were,” Jolinda told her son. “You decided that you would be the best dad you can be and that is exactly what you have become. Son, you are simply one of the best dads that a child could have. Just like everything else in your life, you give paternity everything.”
She also praised Dwyane for how he parents his daughter Zaya, who came out as transgender in 2020.
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“My love, I admire how you embrace your beautiful child Zaya – my grandson,” said Jolinda. “And you encourage her to be who she is. What a father. You protect her, you talk to her to understand who she is. You don’t judge or condemn.”
Later in the section, when Jolinda showed up personally for rave over her son, she became sincere about her previous struggles that led to her prison.
“My children struggled with me,” she shared. “I struggled for many years of drug addiction. Heroin, alcohol, pills, yes, you know, we can continue to name it. Alcoholism, homelessness, in and out of prison. Just to live a life completely separated from my children. One thing I always wanted to be a mother and when I ended up being that person, I did not know how I was going.
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Jolinda also said that she struggled with suicidal thoughts and said that it was her child who always kept her hurting herself.
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“When suicide came up I would see their faces. I didn’t want to do it anymore,” she said. “One thing with my valuable four children – they never stopped loving me. They never stopped loving me never judged me, never condemned me.”
Jolinda added that Dwyane has always encouraged her to share her story in public.
“I remember my son, when they first wanted to make a story about me, and I told him because I wanted to respect the space he had received, and he said, ‘Ma, you go and tell your story because the only thing it will do is help someone,'” she said.
When it comes to Dwyane, he noted that “it has been a trip” when it comes to his life with his mother and added: “No one makes me smile as big as my mother.”
He also explained his way of thinking about his mother’s struggle and said, “to grow up to be a mother’s boy, was the youngest, like the only boy, I had my way. But you know, look at my mom going through something I couldn’t understand at the young age I was on, I didn’t even know what they really were.”
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