Dwyane Wade recently looked back at a “rough” time in his life and his relationship with wife Gabrielle Union.

The 41-year-old NBA star reflected on a time when he learned that he had fathered a child outside of their relationship while the couple was on a break. The child was his son Xavier.

He looked back on talking to Gabrielle about the pregnancy and how they moved past it in a new interview.

Read more about Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union’s relationship…

“I tried to pussyfoot around it. I tried to break up with her,” Dwyane said while on the Club Shay Shay podcast. He recalled telling Gabrielle that “things have been bad lately” and “we’ve been having a little distance in our relationship.”

He was not successful in ending things and had the conversation with her.

“You’re thinking about it all, it’s all scary,” he explained. “One, the whole situation is scary enough, you’re a public figure. But you know that this is going to hurt someone that you’ve been building a relationship with and a life with.”

After having the difficult conversation, they’ve moved forward as a couple. “It hasn’t been perfect. It will never be perfect, but that was nine years ago,” he said. “We go to therapy. We’ve been to therapy. We’ve had shouts about it. We’ve had regular conversations about it, and so it’s been something that going to continue to be something that I have to work at and work on.”

Dwyane also revealed who was the biggest victim in the situation – his son Xavier.

“When it comes to my wife and I, that’s hard. It’s always there,” he said. As for Xavier, he said, “That’s hard for him. This is gonna always be there. He’s done nothing. The stain is on him for no reason.”

Of course, Dwyane and Gabrielle made things work and are going strong to this day. On Thursday (September 21), they made a joint appearance at the Fast Company Innovation Festival at Convene in New York City. We’ve got new pics of them at the engagement.

If you missed it, Dwyane recently revealed why his family moved from Florida to California.

Scroll through the new photos of Dwyane Wage and Gabrielle Union in the gallery…