Shaunie Henderson is not switching up her personality to appease churchgoers now that she’s a first lady. The mother of five and wife of Lighthouse Church Pastor Keion Henderson celebrated two years of marriage this past May.
The following month, in June, the duo were made into public fodder when Shaunie playfully two-stepped and stanky-legged her way onstage to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” at a podcast panel discussion during their annual Cry Out church conference.
Fans dragged Shaunie for appearing to crip walk, and Keion was pulled into the mud following the aftermath of him telling a woman during his sermon to “hush.” The lighthearted and jovial display was slammed by naysayers for being secular and not upholding church decorum.
A critic wrote, “Chile the church is too worldly for me now days.” However, Shaunie’s husband smiled as he watched her have a moment of shine. When she posted a snippet of her moves on Instagram, her followers also showed support.
“Cuz First Lady is a LA GURL!!!!” exclaimed one person. In the aftermath of the uproar over her dance to hip-hop’s viral diss record of the summer, a clip of the former wife of NBA great Shaquille O’Neal speaking about being a non-traditional first lady has resurfaced.
“I don’t plan on conforming to anything that anybody expects. I just want people to see me as being authentic. I genuinely love to help people. So, hopefully, the Lighthouse Church will accept me as that,” she explained in a solo scene speaking with a producer of the couple’s limited reality series “Shaunie & Keion’s Destination I Do” in 2022.
@vh1 #Shaunie's putting her own spin on being 'First Lady' w/ fiancé Keion 💖#ShaunieAndKeion's Destination “I Do” premieres MON NOV 28 on #VH1 💍 #fyp ♬ original sound – VH1
Elsewhere in the episode, Keion expressed to his wife that he did not want the title of “first lady” to influence who she is either.
“When you become somebody’s first lady they (members of the congregation) also have the propensity to put a set of expectations on you. I only want you to be my wife,“ he told her. “And if you decide there’s something in the church that you have a passion for, we’ll find out what it is. But it’s not a requirement.”
A supporter commented on TikTok that “it’s nobody else’s business what she’s called to do but God’s.”
In a May 2024 interview with xoNecole, the “Undefeated” author acknowledged that her past distinguished her from being like most churchgoing first ladies.
“I’m not knocking how any first ladies decide to operate, but I just knew that the idea of what that usually is was not me,” Shaunie admitted.
The “Basketball Wives” creator explained, “I’m probably the only first lady that created a reality show that has been on television since 2010. My life is not remotely close to that of most first ladies. We’ve experienced completely different things. Most of them have been pastors’ wives for a long time; this is all new for me. I come with an entirely different journey; that wouldn’t lend itself to being a traditional first lady.”
Shaunie talking about her relationships with the “wives” is funny because she only brought one other wife along for the first season. She knew what kind of trash she was putting on air and she might as well stand in it. First Lady trying to rewrite history. https://t.co/HnxtSrbOK2
— L’gebetequois St. Pierre (@iAMshockley) January 16, 2024
The seemingly unorthodox pair has been thrust into the headlines since their relationship became known to the public in 2020. This year, the Hendersons have especially faced a barrage of opinions about their presence in the religious space.
Keion spoke out twice amid reactions to him hushing a congregant for obnoxiously wailing during service in May. He would later reveal that he and various members of the church had taken corrective measures for four years to no avail when the viral moment unfolded online.
Their union has also been plagued by social media users who insist on comparing the couple’s lifestyle to the more costly one she experienced with O’Neal. During the aforementioned church conference, Shaunie reveals she hated that Keion had become the subject of salacious headlines all because of her status as a public figure.
