BY MIKE LANSU
The wife of NBA star Dwyane Wade has filed a
lawsuit against
the Miami Heat guard’s alleged actress girlfriend, claiming her conduct
around their
young children has inflicted emotional distress.
Siohvaughn
Wade claims actress Gabrielle Union “engaged in
sexual foreplay with Dwyane Wade” in front of Wade’s 8-year-old and
2-year-old sons while on an unsupervised visitation to the
basketball star’s Miami home, according to a suit filed Tuesday in Cook
County
Circuit Court.
The suit also claims Wade’s oldest son was allowed
to play unsupervised
in or around the Miami home’s pool at night. Wade and Union ignored the
boy,
whose “screams and cries” eventually got the attention of Wade’s mother,
Jolinda Wade, who took the boy inside, according to the suit.
The 8-year-old later told court appointed child
representative Lester
Barelay what happened and asked him “to put his father in jail…” so he
would
not have to return to the home, which he calls “the house where the
woman
kissing daddy lives,” the suit said.
The suit also claims the younger child nearly
drowned while in his
father’s care and Union drove the boys to the park with his oldest son
in the front
seat.
On one visitation, Wade allegedly orchestrated a
meeting between Union and the boys, where he introduced the actress as
his “girlfriend” and
said “that is why your mom and I are going to divorce,” according to
the suit.
Dwyane and Siohvaughn Wade have been “sweethearts”
since
they were 15 years old and currently still married but are involved in a
divorce proceeding, the suit said.
The boy’s mother claims the sexual foreplay in
front of the
boys and the orchestrated meeting to introduce the children to their
future
stepmother caused emotional distress.
The older child has sought medical treatment for
stress and anxiety,
has developed nervous habits, experiences headaches, and is generally
anxious
to the point of “significant” hair loss causing bald spots, according to
the
suit. The boy is currently seeking court-mandated mental evaluations at
the
University of Chicago, the suit said.
Siohvaughn Wade and the boys are seeking more than
$50,000
from Union at a trial.
A Tuesday night message left with Siohvaughn Wade’s
attorney, William P. Suriano, was not immediately returned. A message
left with
the NBA Players Association seeking comment from Dwyane Wade’s agent
was also not returned.
Dwyane Wade — an alumni of Richards High School in Oak Lawn
— has played all seven seasons of his professional career for the Miami
Heat.
The 28-year-old is a six-time NBA all-star and has won an NBA
championship and
gold medal. He has the option to opt out of his current contract this
summer,
and the Chicago Bulls are rumored to be interested in signing him.
