Zaya Wade gushes over ‘idol’ Michelle Obama during IG Live
‘I am just so proud of you for being an amazing role model,’ Obama told the trans teenager, ‘and just embracing your truth.’
Dwyane Wade’s 13-year-old daughter was completely star-struck when she got to meet her “idol” during a Thursday video call with Michelle Obama.
The former first lady enlisted Zaya Wade to join her on the call to promote the youth edition of her best-selling memoir, Becoming.
“I’m meeting an idol. I’m literally meeting an idol. [I’ve been] preparing for this moment for so long,” the young Wade exclaimed. “I’m very excited today. I also get to miss one of my classes, so…”
Obama laughed and directed Zaya Wade to ask her teacher for forgiveness for her “because you’re doing me a favor!”
In a viral video, Obama told readers that the process of “becoming” isn’t finite. “It is okay not to know who you are,” she said, “or exactly what you want to be or do right now.”
She echoed that sentiment in her interview captured on Instagram with Zaya Wade, who asked her for advice for teenagers “who want to be themselves and thrive like you have and currently are.”
“Well, like you also have,” Obama replied, “and currently are!” She saluted Wade, who came out as transgender last year. “You know, I am just so proud of you for being an amazing role model and just embracing your truth. You’re already doing this, so maybe this [advice] is for some other young people that are listening.”
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Obama said her first piece of advice for young people is “to be patient with yourself.”
“At your age, or in the teenage years and probably through your 20s,” she noted, “you’re gonna be experimenting with so many versions of yourself, right?”
“All young people are trying on different versions, different voices,” said Obama. “They’re learning more about their intellect, they’re learning about what they love, what they’re good at, what they like. This is the period of exploration.”
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The young readers’ edition of Becoming features a special introduction just for kids written by the former White House resident, as well as more full-color inserts. In the paperback edition, Obama shares a letter she once wrote to her younger self.
She encouraged her hostess and other teens to read books, connect with people who are not like them, and “give yourself space and time to learn and grow.”
“Your advice is impeccable,” Zaya Wade agreed. “I don’t know if I could even expand on that.”
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