Dwyane Wade posed nude for ESPN’s Body Issue to conquer insecurity
Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade joined 18 other athletes who bared it all for the pages of this year’s ESPN the Magazine Body Issue, the magazine announced Tuesday, with the 12-time All-Star and three-time NBA champion serving as one of the cover models:
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“Stepped out of my comfort zone for the cover of this year’s #BodyIssue,” Wade wrote in the caption of his Instagram post.
In an interview with ESPN’s Morty Ain after his photo shoot for the magazine, which will be released online on July 6 and hit newsstands on July 8, Wade — who looks awfully fit for a 34-year-old with the wear-and-tear of nearly 37,000 career NBA minutes and years of shoulder, knee, ankle and hamstring injuries — explained why after turning down multiple offers to pose for the Body Issue, he decided this was the year to overcome his “fear of being naked in front of others and […] of being judged”:
Someone may look at me and think, “Why would you have insecurity?” Well, this is real life and I’m human, and these are the things that I deal with that many others might deal with.
When I was young, my belly button was an outie, and I never even wanted to take my shirt off when we were at the swimming pool or outside during water fights. The only people who went into the pool with their shirts on were the kids who were overweight — and me. I knew that I was different. I knew from all the kids I had seen that nobody else had what I had. No one else had an outie. Even when I got to high school, I didn’t want to do swimming class because I didn’t want people to see my feet — as an athlete, my feet were a little rougher — and my belly button. I had my doctor write me a note to say that I couldn’t do swimming, and the first day I sat down and watched everybody else and it just looked so fun. I eventually was like, “I’ve got to do it, I got to do it.”
I was just never comfortable until about four years ago, when I started feeling comfortable with my body overall. As you go through life, you get more comfortable with yourself. It’s like everything else with life — you change, you grow. People might think it’s simple, but for me it was hard to even feel comfortable walking around naked when it’s just me and my wife. So the thought of doing it at a photo shoot in front of people [laughs] — it was like, “No way ever.” […]
I don’t even view my belly button now. I make jokes sometimes when I’m doing an interview or taking a photo and I’ll say, “I’m making the outies cool.” I’m representing for all the kids out there who have the outies.
After 13 NBA seasons and countless experiences of life in the public eye, Wade told Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press that he’s making more of an effort these days to try new things, which helped convince him to finally say yes to this opportunity.
“I’m at the point in my life where I’m 34 years old and understand where I am in life,” Wade said. “I know how I’m going. I’m at this point where I’m doing things I never thought I would, trying things that I never thought I would, that I always said no to. I’m trying not to be that guy. I’m trying to be more open to living life and enjoying it and everything that comes with it. So they caught me at the right moment.”
But, y’know, not completely open to everything along the way.
“I wanted a male photographer, the room to be empty, a lot of things like that,” he added. “A lot of things had to be in the agreement for me to do it, but it worked out.”
Wade joins Houston Texas defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, Chicago Cubs ace Jake Arrieta, MMA star Conor McGregor and Olympic legend Greg Louganis, among others, in this year’s issue. He’s the 10th NBA player to appear in a “Body Issue,” joining past models Dwight Howard (2009), Amar’e Stoudemire (2010), Blake Griffin (2011), Tyson Chandler (2012), Kenneth Faried and John Wall (2013), Serge Ibaka (2014), and DeAndre Jordan and Kevin Love (2015).
“It’s bigger than me showing my body off,” Wade said. That’s not as important to me as telling a story of overcoming a fear. It hopefully gives someone confidence to really be their authentic self.”
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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