VIA: DENVER—
Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade acknowledged Monday that he fathered a son who was born a month ago outside of his relationship with fiancee actress Gabrielle Union.
"I had a time, a part in our break, in our pain and our hurt, a blessing came out of it in my life, having a son that was born healthy," Wade said of his relationship with Union. "So I'm moving on."
Prior to the Heat's game against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center, Wade addressed the birth of his son in the wake of several online reports earlier in the day.
"I'm in the public eye, so obviously that's a part of it," Wade said of the private matter becoming public. "It comes with the territory."
Wade said what matters to him "is always focus on what's most important to me and my family, and that's being a great father. I've always tried to show my importance in my kids' lives and it doesn't change now. So, I, my lady and my family have continued to move forward, and I think that's evident with the ring and the proposal that I gave her, with our lives."
Wade, 31, has primary custody of two young sons from his marriage to former wife Siohvaughn Funches and is also raising a nephew at his Miami home.
He announced his engagement last week to Union, later posting a family Christmas video of Union with his two sons by Funches and his nephew. Wade and Union, who had been aware of Wade's most recent child, are expected to wed in September. The two have been dating since 2009.
Wade had hinted of an outside issue during a September appearance on The Tonight Show, telling host Jay Leno of a break with Union, saying, "Celebrity relationships [are] very hard. This was a big year for us and our relationship from the standpoint of she was shooting her show Being Mary Jane, going most of the year. I was dealing with my injuries, trying to win a championship, so we kinda took a step back."
Wade said he has spent time with his newborn son.
"Yeah, I've got a chance to see him," he said. "You know me. I'm involved in my kids' lives. When my kids were living at home with me, or wasn't living at home with me, I tried to do everything I could to see them. Obviously I got custody of them for different reasons, but nothing changes with my life.
"Like I've said, this is something that my family knows and my now fiancee worked through when we got back together, and understood that we wanted to continue our lives together and continue supporting our family and we're going to do that. That's what I've always done."
According to Entertainment Tonight, Wade had known the mother of his latest child for several years.
Wade has participated in President Obama's Fatherhood Task Force and written a book, A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger than Basketball. He said he does not believe this latest revelation has compromised how he should be viewed.
"It would compromise it if I wasn't a father first," he said. "I'm always going to be a father first. That doesn't change. If you decide to when you can be a father, that's when it compromises.
"But, like I said, this is something, obviously, private for my family that we will continue to deal with as a family. But we have a blessing to the bloodline, to the Wade bloodline. And from that standpoint, it doesn't, to me, state anything differently from what I've always shown."
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