Before Shaunie Henderson was a household name, she was living paycheck to paycheck and learning to survive like countless others. Her humble beginnings and admitted lack of financial literacy were bombshell admissions in a resurfaced live chat she had with her new husband, Pastor Keion Henderson.
The year-old clip on the YouTube page “My Husband is My Best Friend” has been viewed by more than 470,000 people in the past year. The discussion was part of the rollout of their 2023 Maximize Your Biz Challenge. The five-day experience promised to provide participants with strategies to lead successful businesses and lives.
Unlike The Lighthouse Church leader, who always had an entrepreneurial spirit and has multiple degrees, she had to find her way without the backing of a college education, a clear career path, or passion. Her first big corporate job was working as an assistant in the marketing department at Fox Studios.
“It was paycheck to paycheck at that time,” says Shaunie. “I didn’t know anything about credit, needing to get my credit right. Just living … and got all them credit cards that they tell you to get when you’re young and messed that up,” that confided to everyone tuned in during the live discussion. By the time she met and married her first husband, NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, not much had changed.
The former couple quickly hit it off after meeting at a club in Los Angeles in 1996 after O’Neal joined the Lakers with a $120 million, seven-year deal. They welcomed their first child, son Shareef, in 2000 and married two years later. Shaunie was already a mother to son, Myles, from a previous relationship.
“Life drastically changed, but I was so young that I didn’t come into marriage with a skill set to know what to do with money, you know what I mean? I was spending and living, and having a great time not even — what was going on around me was not registering with me to do something with it,” she explains while noting that she was always ambitious.
However, she claims that her ideas of starting her own business were not met with much support from O’Neal. “It just wasn’t encouraged in that relationship because everything was good. You know, sit down and be good… Despite the rumors, I didn’t save a little for the rainy day. I wish I had, but I got divorced, and I really had to start all over.”
They welcomed three more children: daughter Amirah in 2001, son Shaqir in 2003, and another daughter, Me’arah, in 2006. Shaunie filed for divorce in 2009, two years after she and O’Neal worked through marital troubles after his 2007 filing for legal separation. She says that restoring her life with five kids in tow was a return to survival mode.
“What really drove me was I didn’t want to have to depend on anybody…I didn’t want child support to be my source of life. I was like umm this ain’t it. I don’t care how good it is. This ain’t it,” says the author of “Undefeated.”
Shaqs response to Shaunie saying she never loved Shaq. I told yall Shaq was on some BS during their marriage…hard to love someone like that. Shaq only had money going for him as a husband pic.twitter.com/eaLfAXXMiR
— LL Fool J (@lodiedodie14) May 9, 2024
Shaunie dispelled longstanding rumors that she received $50,000 a month in child support last month during the church’s Cry Out conference. While she and Keion participated in a live recording of the Dear Wifey podcast, she said, “I didn’t get alimony; I got child support, and it wasn’t $50,000. It was better than that…People just lie on me.”
Keion claims that as a producer and creator of the “Basketball Wives” franchise his wife helped bring in billions of dollars for VH1. He also stated that he and his wife also earn eight figures a year.
The newlyweds began dating in 2020 and tied the knot in May 2022. It is a second marriage for both. O’Neal has yet to meet another woman worthy of calling his Mrs.
