The NBA legend discusses about aging with intention, his skincare routine, and being advocate for both longevity and LGBTQ+ rights.
Dwyane Wade Is Redefining What Men’s Health Means
Published on May 15, 2025
Dwyane Wade isn’t chasing youth—he’s building a future. At 43, the retired three-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer has evolved far beyond the court. In recent years he’s become a leading voice in conversations around fatherhood, mental health, and self-care.
These days, he’s somehow looking younger, thinking deeper, and living more intentionally than ever—and you’re just as likely to find him meditating in the cold tub or getting red light facials before the Met Gala as you are seeing him courtside at a game.
During his conversation with The Healthy by Reader’s Digest, he had his nails painted, spoke passionately about raising a trans daughter, and walked us through the supplements he swears by—including his daily protein shake and circumin from Thorne, the science-backed supplement company he partners with.
But don’t let the candles and collagen fool you—Wade is still a competitor. Only now, the game is longevity. He shares how his kidney cancer scare reshaped his health mindset, the daily rituals that keep him grounded (spoiler: yes, there’s yoga), and why more men need to start taking care of what’s inside just as much as what’s on the outside.
The Healthy by Reader’s Digest: Dwyane, you’ve partnered with Thorne. Tell me a little bit about how that partnership came about and what you personally enjoy using from the line.
Dwyane Wade: I’m on my health journey. I’m a 43-year-old man and when you play sports, you’re kind of giving everything. You’re kind of like, “Hey, this hurts,” or “I feel this,” or “I feel that,” and you’re just given stuff—you don’t really know a lot. You just take what’s provided for you. And then I retired and I didn’t have anyone doing that for me anymore, so I had to do it on my own. I had to go out and find things that would work for my body. I was on the search.
I’ve been very open about my cancer surgery that I had at the end of 2023 and how that just changed me. And so along the way, I was able to build a relationship with Thorne. I wanted to be with who was the best. I try to make sure everything I’m a part of has a certain standard. I just wanted to get 1% better. That’s what we talk about as athletes—how do you get 1% better every day? And outside of training—which I do four, five, six days a week—I wanted to add more to that.
The Healthy: You’ve said you don’t have people guiding you now like you did when you were part of a team. So what do health, nutrition, and fitness look like now compared to in your twenties when you were on the court?
Dwyane Wade: Now it’s really my life. I sit here as a 43-year-old man, and I would love to be healthy for the next 40 years of my life. So this journey is not just a fad for me—it’s forever. I’m a leader of my family, and I want to be around for a while. I also work a lot. I travel a lot. During my career, I put my body through a lot, so it’s very important for me to educate myself on what works for my body. What works for me is different than for everyone else. I had to get to know myself and get to know the things I was feeling—and be able to express those things, from my primary care doctor to the scientists at Thorne and everyone in-between.
The Healthy: For someone who wants to follow the Dwyane Wade-Thorne protocol, what are the supplements you use from the line?
Dwyane Wade: So, my mornings. I normally wake up between five and six and start training right away. I like to train first thing. I also like to get in a sauna in the morning. I’m probably done around seven o’clock, and by then I’ve got three different shakes or drinks waiting for me in the kitchen. There’s a protein shake with vanilla powder, circumin for my bone joints and my liver, ResveraCel, which focuses on healthy aging, creatine, daily greens powder, collagen, and magnesium. I have a drink—it’s pink—it’s got collagen and magnesium in it. I make sure I drink that. I take my vitamin D pills. I take testosterone support. It’s very important for me. And then I have other things I take—I think it’s very important. I take immunity boosters like ginger and turmeric and celery and apples and the whole thing. I’m just trying to be healthy. I’m trying to live a long life.
The Healthy: Your wife, Gabrielle Union, has talked before about how acupuncture has helped both of you. How has it been part of your wellness routine, and what other post-basketball wellness practices have made a real impact?
Dwyane Wade: I had migraines and [my acupuncturist] was great. There are so many different things out here, and it can be complicated for us to know exactly what we should do or who we should trust. I try to make sure I take the first two hours of the day for myself. Outside of working out, outside of making sure I have all the things I need for my body, I meditate a lot. Some of that working out is yoga. I do a lot of yoga as well. Every now and then my wife gets me to go to Pilates with her. I also make sure I stay on top of my massages, my stretching. I travel a lot. And from playing sports, my knees, my hips—all of these things are affected, and you can end up needing replacements as you get older. Acupuncture is very good for that. I’ve been on that journey for a while. I’m in all the fields.
I’ve been doing these things and now as I sit here at 43, I’m like, “Oh, this is really my life.” This is something I want other men to think about and take seriously—because we don’t take our bodies that seriously. We take our outer seriously. We take care of our hair and our skin, but we don’t take care of what’s inner. I’ve been trying to really focus on how I’m going to live a healthy life into my 80s and 90s, hopefully.
The Healthy: It sounds really well-rounded. What is one self-care habit you refuse to skip?
Dwyane Wade: Maybe my face routine. As an athlete, I didn’t take care of my skin a lot. We all used the same towels, we’d rub our face—there’s a lot of sweat. I’m obviously very thankful to be someone who is in the public eye. So my skin is very important to me. This is one thing I started the last two years: Every day of my life I do a face routine. That’s my self-care. I can go get facials sometimes—I have an amazing facialist—but what can I do on my own? And these are things that used to be taboo for men, right? It was like, “Oh no, that’s what women do.” Well, no—
The Healthy: We all have skin.
Dwyane Wade: We all have skin. We all want to look good. We all want to look younger. We’re all trying to find these things that make us look and feel a certain way. It’s an everyday non-negotiable for me.
The Healthy: Just to get some specifics—what are the products you like for your face? And do you use a meditation app or a certain type of meditation that might inspire others?
Dwyane Wade: I do. The meditation app I use is called Insight Timer. I really love it. What I love about it is you can go in there whether you need five minutes or 20 minutes. I’ll put my headphones in and do my app in the cold tub. I’m locked in for 10 minutes. You get to pick what you need that day, if I need to start my day calm or if I’ve got a big meeting. You can customize it.
The Healthy: That’s great! What about your skin?
Dwyane Wade: As for products, I use PCA Skin. My wife and I both do. [Gabrielle Union is a spokesperson for PCA Skin.] For me, it’s really simple: face wash, toner—very important—then my mist, which I love, then I go with a brightening serum. And then a boosting serum as well. That’s my morning routine. At night, I switch it up. I add in some clear skin products and others depending on what I need. I sweat a lot, so I break out—so I’m always carrying things with me. One thing I didn’t know when I was younger—I thought, “Oh, Black people can be in the sun, it doesn’t matter. We’re not going to burn.” But no. So now I make sure I have my PCA sunscreen when I go out and golf. I make sure I’m putting it on my face.
The Healthy: You and Gabrielle—it’s all working! You looked phenomenal at the recent Met Gala. Tell me a little about your prep day. I’ve been reading about red light masks, lasers, creams from different celebrities. What did your routine look like?
Dwyane Wade: Met was on Monday, so our prep started on Sunday. We had our facialist—she was in town for other clients, too. We had about an hour and a half to two hours of facials. She came back at night, and I had another session where I just had the red light over my face for 30 minutes. So really prepping with the facials, making sure our skin was ready. When you’re putting a lot of clippers on my face, a lot of makeup on your face when you go to these events because of all the flashes to cover you, there’s a lot of stuff that goes on your skin that irritates it. So we started on Sunday with that.
Massages are also really important—lymphatic massages, especially when you’re trying to fit into your clothes. And so a lymphatic massage was in there Sunday as well. Then Monday is the day when you get to relax and chill and start prepping my hair, my beard. You’ve been not eating for weeks so you’re ready for the outfit. And for me, I’m a candle guy. What music? What scents? All these vibes is curated and needed.
The Healthy: You and Gabrielle have been powerful LGBTQ+ advocates. You both gave such inspiring speeches at the NAACP Image Awards. What was the response like, and what it was like to stand up there and speak about your experience with your daughter?
Dwyane Wade: I don’t really accept awards. I don’t feel like we should be honored for being good people or being good parents. But I felt that award was important, because of the room we were standing in front of. And I understand the temperature of the world when it comes to certain conversations, especially in the Black community. I felt it was very important to stand on the stage and stand proud as a father of a beautiful daughter in the trans community and speak to them as a father. Not a quote that they see on social, just a man speaking about his child.
My wife did an amazing job. I actually didn’t prepare anything until when I was on the way over there. I was like, “OK, I should start putting some things together.” I didn’t want to accept the award. From sports—yes. I worked hard for those. But this? I’m not doing anything. I’m just waking up every day and choosing to love my child and my family. It’s been great. I just hope it helped one family. If it helped one kid, if it helped one father, if it helped one mother do something different, hear something different, look at something differently—then we did our job.
The Healthy: That’s incredible. And I can’t believe you wrote that on the way there—it was such a powerful speech. Last question: you’re a dad, a husband, an entrepreneur. What’s coming up that you’re excited about?
Dwyane Wade: I’m excited I’m really stepping into my media space. I just signed with Amazon Sports here in [Los Angeles] to be part of this year’s broadcast in-studio. I’m still excited about the opportunity I have to jump into entertainment—hosting shows like Ellen, or the TODAY show and hosting with Jenna, going on SNL. I have my own network called Y Network and a show called Timeout. I’m actually in the studio now! I also have a production company—we’re continuing to try to find the right content.
Outside of that, I just announced my relationship with Estée Lauder—I’m the face of their new fragrance, Intuition by Aramis, coming out this August. So I’m really excited about that. I’m just really excited about opportunities. You want to be prepared for them so I try to make sure I’m doing the work. I try to make sure all the work is done so when that call comes, I’m already ready for them.
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
