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Shaquille O’Neal’s Shocking Response to Finding Out That Ex-wife Shaunie Questions Whether She was Ever Really In Love with Him

Posted byBy Angelina Velasquez | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Shaunie Henderson is finally experiencing real romantic love for the first time. The ex-wife of NBA great Shaquille O’Neal opens up about her first marriage in a new interview on the “Tamron Hall” show, where she dives into the making of her debut memoir, “Undefeated: Changing the Rules and Winning on My Own Terms.”

The book gives a more unedited look into her life, wins and losses, than fans who have watched her throughout various seasons of the “Basketball Wives” franchise, a show she created and executive produced, have seen on TV.

Shaquille O'Neal responds after his ex-wife Shaunie says she was never in love with him.
Shaquille O’Neal responds after his ex-wife Shaunie says she was never in love with him. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)

During her May 7 sit-down with host Tamron Hall, the entrepreneur reveals that witnessing the emotional turmoil of her parents’ marriage significantly impacted how she coped with disappointments for nearly a decade as the wife of the four-time NBA champion. 

Her parents had been married for 54 years when her father passed away in March 2022. “You wrote, ‘Growing up as a child, there was infidelity,’ on your dad’s part, and your mom could not forgive him for what he’d done but stayed in the marriage,” said Hall. “That leads you to a pattern, which you write about, in your own marriage — in your marriage to Shaq for seven years,” she added as the mother of five.

In the book, she wrote, “I’m not proud of the fact that I spent so many years in denial. It shows how easy it is to slip into patterns and become comfortable with them, even when they’re toxic.”

The newly minted author told Hall, “I own my space. I own my decisions. I own the fact that I was in complete denial and saw things right in front of me, but just like, I was protecting myself. I was protecting my kids. I have this family, right, I didn’t want to be a failure. To me, losing my marriage was failing.”

After seven years of marriage, Henderson filed for divorce in 2009 amid various reports that he had been unfaithful. Their separation was finalized two years later. In hindsight, she wrote that “looking back, I don’t know that I was ever really in love with the man, but I was in love with the idea of being married to the man I had a family with. I was in love with the idea of building a life together.”

Speaking with Hall, she further explained, “I was in love with the partnership that I never got. I didn’t experience partnership in a relationship until now. But you know, Shaquille and I have a great relationship now and beautiful children. I would not change any part of my story, not one part of my story, no matter how depressed, how sad…how much of at the bottom I felt. I would not change one part of it because I feel like my reward is now.”

Shaq caught wind of Shaunie’s interview, and he doesn’t blame her to speaking her truth.

“I understand … I wouldn’t have been in love with me either. Wishing you all the best. All love, Shaq.”

In his own words, O’Neal said he “was a d**khead” and that “you don’t know how good you got something till it’s gone” in a 2021 interview with People.

Last year, he said his ex-wife was “the perfect one” he let get away, placing the blame for their failed marriage on himself and his immature ways. The friendly exes are now co-parents to their five children, including Shaunie’s eldest son, Myles Baptiste, whom he adopted as his own.

Henderson remarried in May 2022 to The Lighthouse Church lead Pastor Keion Henderson after three years together. Their blended family now includes his daughter, Katelyn, from a previous relationship.

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