As Dwyane Wade prepares to wed Gabrielle Union, his past relationships keep coming back to punch him in the stomach.
Shortly after the Miami Heat star and “Being Mary Jane” actress announced their engagement, news broke that Wade fathered a love child at some point during their relationship.
Now…the athlete’s ex-wife Siovaughn Wade is piling on, claiming that Wade is not only a cheat, but used to beat her, and gave her a sexually transmitted disease.
According to recently filed court documents uncovered by Radar Online, Siohvaughn said her ex revealed a different side to her shortly after they married on May 18, 2002.
“I had known that Dwyane Wade had a temper and could become violent at times,” she claims in the documents, “but when we moved out of my mother’s home … into our own apartment with our infant son, the violence increased. This, however, was just the surface of the domestic violence Dwayne Wade would inflict upon me.”
“As Dwyane Wade’s income increased,” she claims, “his arrogance and pride increased as well. Dwyane Wade began to call me derogatory names more, throw things at me, hit me, take all my money from me, and even kicked me out of the house causing me not to have a place to live. … As a means of controlling me, and as part of Dwyane Wade’s domestic violence pattern, he would often hit me, lock me in rooms and not allow me out, threaten to take my sons from me and frighten me by telling me he knows judges and that they are on his pay roll and he can take the children from me at any time he wanted. The domestic violence and abuse continued on for several years in our family.”
Wade has denied the accusations and is suing Siohvaughn for defamation in another case.
“I tried to leave Dwyane Wade, but when I did, he made sure I did not have access to my own home and he cut off all my bankcards and denied me access to any money,” she continues. “This exerting of power and control has continued to this day.”
In one incident, she claims, “He picked up a garbage can made of marble stone and threw it at me. Dwyane Wade picked me up into the air above his head and slammed me down onto a large ottoman with such force that the ottoman broke into pieces when he slammed my body on it and banged my head against a marble bathroom floor.”
“Subsequently,” she claims, “I ended up having to be rushed to the emergency room of Christ Hospital and spent an entire week hospitalized.”
Siohvaughn further claims in the documents that she discovered Dwyane was cheating on her, and when she got tested for STDs, she says she found out that he had given her one. Shortly after, on May 27, 2008, Dwyane filed for divorce.
“The marriage has ended but Dwyane Wade’s abuse has not ceased,” Siohvaughn claims in the documents, “and through the court system he continues to use his money and influence to exert power and control over me.”
Indeed, Siohvaughn claims that Dwyane gave her attorney hundreds of thousands of dollars to accept a settlement that she did not approve. As part of that settlement, she was awarded the couple’s marital home in Illinois, but ordered to refinance the mortgage on the property. She has since failed to do so and has fallen behind on payments. (She claims she was denied by several banks for the refinancing.)
Dwyane filed a motion to find her in contempt for letting the home fall risk to foreclosure, but Siohvaughn filed new documents last month explaining that she simply could not afford it. Adding to her financial troubles, she claims, various companies with which Dwyane has endorsements have failed to deposit his earnings into a court-ordered mutual account, instead routing the money straight to the NBA star in what she calls a “conspiracy.”
The judge was persuaded to side with Siohvaughn, denying Dywane’s motion to find her in contempt.
Both sides will meet in court on February 28 to discuss selling the home or refinancing.
