Zaya Wade may be a high school senior, a model, and a trans activist, but she still finds time to binge-watch TV with her dad, former basketball superstar Dwyane Wade. That includes bonding over Heartstopper — and mutual fangirling over Gen Z heartthrob Kit Connor.
“I love a binge-watch,” Zaya said in a new interview with Seventeen. “And this is really cute: My dad and I watch Heartstopper together.”
“He texted me one night: ‘I want to do movie night with you. Come down in one hour,’” she recalled. “He set up candy and popcorn. I was scared because you know when your parents ask you to watch something, you’re like, ‘Ah, here we go.’”
“But then he said, ‘This new show came out, Heartstopper,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my god!’” she continued. “It’s very queer, so of course I’d heard about it. When I tell you it was 1 in the morning and we were on episode 8 of 9.”
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Her and her dad’s shared love for the series has stayed intact through all three season, she added: “Every time a new one comes out, there’s a text message: ‘Oh my god, the new Heartstopper just dropped.’”
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“There is still a lot of hope, please don’t give up!” series creator Alice Oseman wrote on Tumblr.
The video of Connor playing soccer with his “Romeo + Juliet” castmates may be blurry, but fans still spotted him right away.
The Wades’ Heartstopper fandom extends to its stars, including Connor, who plays dreamy boyfriend and bi-con Nick Nelson on the series.
“I saw Kit during Paris Fashion Week,” Zaya said. “I was walking and someone said, ‘Oh, that was the guy from Heartstopper.’ And I was like, ‘Kit Connor? Oh my gosh.’ I was freaking out. Immediately, I called my dad.’”
When the interviewer followed up to ask if Dwyane was just as much a fan of Connor as Zaya is, she replied, “Yup! That’s our thing. We’re such big fans.”
Zaya also praised her dad for his unwavering support for the queer community, including working with her to found their trans advocacy nonprofit Translatable.
Zaya said Dwyane’s allyship is especially powerful “as an African American male, to be so openly and outwardly accepting. Because honestly, him being raised in a traditional Black household in Chicago…the culture there isn’t very queer-friendly,” she said. “I hope that it will continue to inspire people to allow themselves to learn and understand queerness before bashing it.”
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