Shaunie O’Neal seems to be worried about leaving her 20-year-old son Shareef O’Neal and 18-year-old daughter Amirah O’Neal at college while the nation is in the midst of a global pandemic. The “Basketball Wives” creator and executive producer voiced her concerns about the situation in a Wednesday, Aug. 19 Instagram post.
“Wheeeeew so I’ve been struggling this last week,” she wrote alongside a selfie of herself wearing a white shirt and gray face mask with white stars. “I had to drop 2 of my heartbeats❤️ off at college, and honestly I’ve had to stop myself from going back and moving in with them (Ok I know that’s extreme), but I’m just concerned with so much going on.” She then went on to seek advise from other parents who could understand her uneasiness. “I know God has all of our children covered, but this is tough. I’ve read every article from @nytimes to @usatoday on how to prepare for the drop off, but I miss my babies. Parents how are you coping with dropping your kids off at college?”
Some people reacted to the photo and gave the mother of five advice on how to cope with her babies leaving. One user wrote: “It’s tough! I get it!!! Continue to pray, text & FaceTime with them. They may think it’s annoying but I still do it.😂😂 It does get a little better with time! ((Hugs))❤️,” while somebody else said, “🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 you’ll be okay and so will the babies🤍.”
Other fans urged Shaunie to keep her children away from school due to the outbreak as comments like “You don’t! You keep them home!! COVID-19” and “It’s a no for me – they would be home 😂😂” rolled in underneath the post.
Shaunie’s oldest daughter announced in an April Instagram post that she was joining Louisiana State University in the fall and would be playing for the LSU Tigers women’s basketball team. At 6 foot, 3 inches, Amirah is following in her father Shaquille O’Neal‘s footsteps as an LSU basketball center. Amirah’s brother Shareef O’Neal announced at the beginning of February he was transferring from UCLA to LSU. In 2018, Shareef was diagnosed with a right anomalous coronary artery, a heart defect that can cause chest pain, heart failure or sudden cardiac arrest if left untreated. Shareef had to redshirt his freshman year at UCLA and undergo open-heart surgery to repair the defect.
In addition to Amirah and Shareef, Shaquille and Shaunie are the parents to Me’Arah and Shaquir O’Neal. The 45-year-old reality star also has an older son, Myles O’Neal, from a previous relationship. Shaquille, a former Los Angeles Lakers center, also has an older daughter, Taahirah O’Neal, from a prior relationship. Shaquille and Shaunie divorced after seven years of marriage in 2009.
