34-year-old three-time NBA champion, Dwyane Wade, who is married to, Gabrielle Union, one of the most accomplished women on the planet, has stripped n*ked on the cover of ESPN Magazine's Body Issue.
The 12-time All-Star who is one of the most in-demand athletes on the planet was reportedly approached about the issue which is focused on self-growth and empowerment, several times, and he passed without a second thought for almost seven years.
Speaking with ABC News, he said: "It wasn't like even, Maybe it was like, 'Absolutely not' every time. I just wasn't comfortable with the notion of posing n*ked in front of a photographer. It never was something I thought I wanted to do.... A lot of people say, 'You're a professional athlete, how could you not embrace your body?' But it was from a lot of insecurities in my life growing up in a kid."
While speaking about feelings inside that people don't get to see which stem from his upbringing, being from the broken home, the Chicago native said: "Even though you become great at a sport, people cheer you on, those insecurities don't necessarily go away," he said.
Wade "still doesn't know" what changed his mind this year in posing n*ked for the magazine, but he has an idea of where some of this personal growth has come from - his wife, Gabrielle Union.
"When I got married to my wife, I would never walk around on vacation with my shirt off. I would always have something on, something covered and she was like, 'What are you doing, you weirdo? It took me a few years, even by myself in the house walking around naked," he said.
Over almost two years of marriage, Wade said his relationship with his actress, model, and activist wife has solidified his view of the "purpose" of such a union, "to help each other grow as people."
"I think we've both done that for each other. I get to see a different side of her no one else does and her insecurities, and she gets to know mine as well. We go out and are public figures, so we share that [with the world] but we don't share it all.... I think that's one of the things that drove me to be in a relationship with her and even get married.... I felt that she has been helping me be a better person," he said.
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