Do Childhood Sweetheart's Ever Live Happily Ever After? -Read The Story Of Siohvaughn Funches-Wade

A decade ago, Siohvaughn Funches-Wade was broke and living with her high school sweetheart and their newborn son in a cramped apartment in Marquette, Wisconsin. But she was content.

Then in 2003, her husband's name, Dwyane Wade, was called fifth in the NBA draft – propelling them to a life of red carpets and hangers-on. And while the fame meant they could enjoy a life of unimaginable wealth, it quickly sent their marriage plummeting to irrecoverable depths.

Now for the first time, Siohvaughn, who divorced Wade in 2007, has revealed in detail her heartbreak at the disintegration of their five-year marriage.

She has spoken about the crushing moment she found out she had lost custody of their two sons after a four-year battle and how her ex-husband even accused her of kidnapping the boys when she failed to hand them over after a visit in June.

The couple married in 2002 after Siohvaughn gave birth to their first son, Zaire. Here they are pictured in early 2006 on the beach in Florida

She felt moved to publicly reveal her torment weeks after Wade, who has enjoyed a ten-year career as shooting guard with the Miami Heat and accrued a fortune of $65 million, released his book, A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger Than Basketball.

The memoir's portrayal of Wade, 31, is fiercely disputed by his ex-wife, who said she saw him harshly discipline their eldest son, Zaire, now 11, in a repeat of the own emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his strict father.

Siohvaughn begged Wade not to enter the 2002 draft as they were only just married and settling into family life. Here they are pictured in 2004, shortly after he was picked in the 2003 draft

The couple are pictured before the prom in Siohvaughn's mother's house, which Wade shared. After they started a family, they moved to a cramped apartment in Marquette, where he was at college

Wade and Siohvaughn are pictured in Hollywood, California in 2006 - a year before their divorce. It led to a nearly four-year battle for custody of their sons

Wade and Siohvaughn are pictured in Hollywood, California in 2006 - a year before their divorce. It led to a nearly four-year battle for custody of their sons

'I was concerned,' Siohvaughn, 31, said. 'There was not a time out or anything. Zaire was small in age and small in size.

'I would remind Dwyane of the things that had happened to him when I noticed him doing it to his sons. If this sort of thing was happening inside the house what was happening when I wasn't there?'
She passed on her fears at custody evaluations during their lengthy dispute over who would get their two children, Zaire, 10, and Zion, five, but her concerns were ignored, she said.

Wade was granted sole custody in March 2011 - two weeks before they were pictured with his teammate LeBron James (R) and tennis players Kei Nishhikori (L) and Rafael Nadal

Despite an expert witness concluding that the children would be best placed with their mother in Chicago – with two visits to their father’s Miami home each month – the court gave Wade custody of the youngsters on March 11, 2011, a decision she puts down to his 'celebrity, influence and money'.

Siohvaughn said it is a battle every day for her to see her sons and said her ex-husband's celebrity status means he gets away with not adhering to the court rules

He was granted sole custody of the children, with two visits a month from their mother. The judge also ordered no contact between Siohvaughn and the boys for 30 days.
News of the ruling came through just hours after Siohvaughn had kissed her sons goodbye as they boarded a plane for their fortnightly trip to Miami.

The decision came even though a custody evaluator noted the boys had a strong support system with their mother in Chicago, including her best friend Nadgee, pictured left

'I promised them I would see them on Sunday; I learned from that not to make children promises,' she said, tearfully.
'When my lawyer called, I knew it was bad news but I begged him to tell me. I remember taking a moment to pause. I could break down at that moment or I could say, "God help me". There's no money that can buy that kind of strength.

Siohvaughn holds her youngest son, Zion, who was born a year before the divorce

'In the hours and weeks after, I cried and cried and I remember being scared when I’d see them again. Would they look different? Would their clothes still fit them? Would they still love me? I worried that they would think I wanted them to go away. There's nothing anyone could have done for me to say, "Get me away from them".'

Siohvaughn said the judge ordered she not contact the boys for a month as they settled in with their father – a ruling that horrified her.

She hugs her eldest son, Zaire, who she claims was disciplined by his father 'with a closed fist'

'How devastating and traumatic for these two small boys,' she said, sobbing. 'Zion was a baby. To tell your baby that I’m going to see them in two days and that turns into two months. I can't describe what it felt like to speak to them after 30 days. They were crying so hard they couldn’t even talk.'
While she does not speak to Wade directly and has no judgment on his parenting, she said she was concerned about her children living with their father.

She added that she also has no opinion on his relationship with actress Gabrielle Union, who at 39, is almost 10 years his senior. The couple met when they were co-hosting a Superbowl party in 2007.

Wade acknowledges in his book that Siohvaughn, pictured with Zion, is a fantastic mother

'I was worried,' Siovhaughn said of his parenting. 'The things that [the children] went through - I feared they would be hurt. I was worried that I failed at protecting [Zaire]. I was worried about their emotional well being because I knew how it felt and I couldn’t imagine how that would be as a child. It was devastating.'
Despite these fears – as well as claims he was physically abusive with Siohvaughn – Wade was granted sole custody, and his ex-wife is certain the courts were seduced by his celebrity.
'I think influence had a lot to do with it,' she said. 'Celebrity had a lot to do with it. Money had a lot to do with it.'

Siohvaughn, pictured with her sons and Nadgee left and with Zion right, said Wade has made it hard for her to see her boys - and faces no punishment if he does not keep to court orders

Her attorney, Brian Hurst, agreed. 'You can’t help but wonder if the celebrity and the notoriety and the money had an impact on [the case],' he said.
'Mr Wade's attorneys were very successful in creating a negative portrayal of Siohvaughn in the media. They were successful in making that stick. It has been a real ordeal for her.'

He added that the case was 'unusual'.
'There was a supportive family for the children [in Chicago],' he said. 'Mr Wade has a career and a schedule which is not amenable to small children [as a single parent].'

Siohvaughn was arrested for child abduction in July after she failed to hand the children over, but the charges were later dropped. She is now working towards her law degree in Chicago

This bitter battle is a far cry from the once loving relationship the couple, who met when Siohvaughn was in fifth grade, once shared.
Soon after they began dating at age 15, Wade quickly began treating her home, which she shared with her mother, as a place of solace from his drug-addicted mother and strict father.

'He was like nothing I see now,' she recounted. 'He was very humble, very shy.'
In his book, Wade writes of the burden of a committed relationship at such a tender age, revealing how he had often planned to end it, wished he had 'played the field' and thought it was too much 'too young'.
'I don't believe that’s the truth,' she disputed. 'It was at that time a very meaningful relationship, a very loving one.'

When Wade was just 20 and at college in Marquette, Wisconsin, Siohvaughn fell pregnant with their first son, Zaire. Even though his coaches suggested he be put forward for the draft in 2002, Siohvaughn pleaded with him to wait, she said.
'I'd practically begged him,' she said. 'We had just got married and had a child. I wanted time to settle, to build as a family. I asked him to choose between his family or him and he chose his family.'
The following year, he chose his career. While Siohvaughn said she willed him to do well, she was 'terrified' about how it would affect their marriage, despite her husband's assurances.

Her fears were justified: After the draft in 2003, he signed a three-year $8.5 million contract and he was thrown into the world of celebrity – and his marriage began to crack.

'When [NBA commissioner] David Stern called his name, that changed everything,' she said. 'Our circumstances were so drastically different. We went from living in in this two-bedroom apartment in Marquette to these places overlooking the ocean in Miami. Everybody said yes to us.

'I was seduced, too. I lost sight of some of my values. The further I got into that lifestyle, the further I got away from God. I just woke up sooner than he did.'
Siohvaughn said she saw her husband slipping from her as he revelled in his fame and fortune – staying out all night, surrounding himself with new friends and arguing with her, she said.

'I was very sad because this was not the person I dated,' she said. 'This was my very best friend and I couldn't reach him anymore – without question it was because of the money.
'I think Dwyane had been rejected a lot when he was younger and then suddenly people started cheering and clapping and wanting to be around him. I think he overindulged in that. It was disgusting to me.'
Wade acknowledges that the relationship was falling apart and that he was desperate for it to work and, aware that the birth of their first son had brought them together, thought he had a solution.


He did ask me to have another child,' she said. 'I was very hesitant to do so, not because I didn’t want another child but because there was so much that Dwyane had swept under the rug.
'There were so many things that were so serious, like other women. It's my belief that that was happening. But it was part of the lifestyle – going out late, travelling, being with different people.'
In 2006, she gave birth to their second son, Zion, but the excitement of his birth did little to save the struggling marriage. Wade's anger towards her escalated, she said, at one point she ended up falling onto a marble floor following a heated argument while she was pregnant.

She recounted the alleged incident from 2006, when she was in her first trimester with Zion. When she woke in the middle of the night, she found her husband gone from their home.
'He would say to me: "This is the lifestyle. Look at the house you live in, look at the car you drive",' she said. 'There was no car he could’ve bought me at that point that could have made up for the disrespect. When he came home, I told him as much.

'I remember my back and head hitting the marble floor in the bathroom and furniture breaking into four pieces and shattering by my body.

'I tried to call the police but the violence turned up a notch. I went for the cordless phone; Dwyane came and grabbed it and threw the phone and it literally broke. I knew that telling on him wasn't going to go well.'
Siohvaughn suffered back and neck pain after the incident and complications with her pregnancy – but could not be certain they stemmed from the alleged outburst, she said.
In his book, Wade disputes her claims of physical violence. She never made a complaint to police and charges have never been brought against her ex-husband for assaulting her.

After the alleged incidents, she moved from their home in Miami back to live with her mother in Chicago, she said. She filed for divorce in 2007 and began the long legal battle for her children.
Now Siohvaughn, who is working towards a law degree near her home in Chicago, says she is locked in a new struggle – just trying to see her sons.
She said there has been incident after incident of her ex-husband keeping the children from her – at one point even sending them to Illinois when she was about to fly to Florida to see them in July. As the courts ruled she is only allowed to see them in Florida, she was unable to visit the youngsters even though they were just 25 minutes away from her Chicago home, she said.

Another time, her husband flew the boys to the London Olympics, meaning she did not see them for more than a month. At this point, she has not seen them since July, she said.
The courts have granted her no visits between August and November 8, her attorney added.

Wade signs his new book for crowds at The Grove in Los Angeles, California

'Dwyane was on Oprah [in July] expressing how he gets excited when the children get to see their mom,' she said. 'At that very same time I was fighting to have the time I was given.'

But she claims the court's leniency towards her ex-husband is not extended to her.

Wade recounts the custody battle in his book, which came out this month

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In June, she was arrested for child abduction after she failed to give the boys over to their father at the end of a visit. In reality, she said, one of Wade's sisters who is not allowed to transport the children arrived at the house to take them – and did not even ring the bell to say she was waiting.
The charges have since been dropped but she still faces charges of resisting arrest 'in a case where she never should have been arrested in the first place', her attorney said.

'I was hours late with one of my visitations, but he was weeks late with his and he didn't even get a punishment,' Siohvaughn said. 'There was no enforcement when it came to Dwyane.'
For his part, Wade argues in his book that he felt it was his ex-wife that was doing her best to disobey court orders, including claims the children were ill or making the boys say things they didn't want to.

Happier times

'Siohvaughn is a most loving, caring mother and the boys love and adore her just as they do me,' he wrote. 'But it had become clear to me... that she was going to disregard orders and throw up every and any excuse to keep me from seeing them.'

Wade, 31, is now dating actress Gabrielle Union, who is almost ten years his senior

One thing they both agree on is that the children should be able to see both of their parents.
'Not seeing their mother could have a very negative effect,' Siohvaughn continued. 'We know what happened to Dwyane without his mom in his life and how he turned to my family.'
But she was happy when he came to her door, she said, and still resents how she lost him to a life of fame and fortune.

She also has the support of her mother, Darlene Funches, pictured with the boys

'The way it broke down was heartbreaking,' Siohvaughn said, her voice cracking. 'It was a mourning to me rather than a divorce. This person I had loved was literally dead. I felt the way a wife feels when her husband dies. That person was literally gone.'

Now she is single, working towards her law degree and receiving minimal spousal support from Wade, which 'isn’t enough to pay my bills', she said. His salary is $17.1 million.
She revealed that, if she had known then what she knows now, she would have asked him to never go for the draft at all.
'I wish he would've stayed,' she said. 'If I had to choose between the money and the love, I would have chosen the love. But I can't choose.'




Source: MailOnline