Before dropping her previous last name, Shaunie Henderson was married to former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal for about seven years.
Their union was filled with basketball, wealth, and a blended family of five children, but it also consisted of infidelity on O’Neal’s part — which contributed to the couple’s divorce in 2011.
It’s now been two years since Shaunie walked down the aisle for a second time and she is now married to the leader of The Lighthouse Church in Houston, Pastor Keion Henderson.
As a woman who has experienced marriage twice, the 49-year-old is able to now look back at her former marriage with O’Neal and see a key difference between the two relationships.
The “Basketball Wives” executive producer and Henderson talked about “Their Journey of Love and Redemption” during a live discussion with the “Dear Future Wifey” host Laterras R. Whitfield on stage in front of an audience in July. Shaunie posted a clip from the episode earlier this week, where she explained how she lacked partnership in her first marriage and how it shows up in her current one.
The clip starts with her saying, “We started talking about being in a relationship and being someone’s partner versus just a wife or just a husband, and I had never had a partnership in a relationship before, which is a difference. I was a wife, but I didn’t have any say-so really.”
Taking accountability for her part in that, she continued, “I mean I wasn’t asked. My opinion wasn’t asked. A suggestion wasn’t really asked and I wasn’t voicing it. I was just kind of sitting back and it was no one’s fault. I just think I was drowned out by life.”
Shaunie and Keion dated for two years before tying the knot in May 2022. She went on to praise him saying, “He would ask me, he would look for my opinion. He would look for my suggestions, and we really were partners in most of the decisions that we made.”
The video was posted shortly after her husband was called a “scammer” online for asking his congregation and donors to contribute $4.4 million to increase the size of one campus of his Houston church following damages from Hurricane Beryl.
“Being in a partnership with your spouse is like having a co-captain in the game of life,” Shaunie continued in the caption. “Together, you can conquer anything that comes your way.”
Many people who support Shaunie’s message assembled in her comment section to share their own experiences or thoughts on partnership. One fan wrote, “I’m in one like this now it’s so refreshing to have someone who values your suggestions & opinion.”
Another person said, “Very important feeling a part of not just feeling like I’m just a spouse.”
Others championed the pastor’s wife, saying comments like “I love that. I truly believe that’s how it’s supposed to be,” and “Thanks for sharing, Shaunie. So many women need to hear this.”
Similar to Shaunie, Keion Henderson has been married previously. He was also wedded once before for nine years to Felicia Henderson. The two share one child together.
At the same “Dear Future Wifey” event, Henderson revealed that fear of failure was the cause of his hesitation to get married again after his tumultous divorce.
He said, “I didn’t want to get married and stay married because I was afraid to get divorced again. I was like I don’t want to get married because I don’t want to fail. If I survive this, [I] definitely can’t survive it again. And so it was not about her; it was about me, and I knew that my chances of surviving another marriage were less than surviving the other one.”
