Shaunie Henderson dropped a bombshell about her former marriage to Shaquille O’Neal in her new book, “Undefeated: Changing the Rules and Winning on My Own Terms.”
In her recent book, Hendersn revealed many details about her past marriage to the LA Lakers legend and why things did not work out for them.
According to the executive producer of Basketball Wives, she saw the signs of her marriage with Shaquille O’Neal “beginning to crumble” long before their divorce rocked the sports and entertainment world in 2011.
“I enjoyed those sweet early years being a mother and raising my children; my days were always busy with kids and family, and every now and then, I got to travel or enjoy a little of the NBA high life. But invisibly, my marriage was beginning to crumble,” Henderson disclosed in the book.
The couple battled infidelity throughout their relationship, which started in the late 1990s and ended in 2009 when Henderson filed for divorce. O’Neal acknowledged this in his 2011 memoir, Shaq Uncut: My Story.
Shaunie Henderson wrote in her memoir that during their marriage, she “was in love with the idea of building a life together” and “was in love with the idea of being married to the man I had a family with.”
“Looking back, I don’t know that I was ever really in love with the man,” Henderson revealed.
She also recalled hearing rumors about O’Neal when they moved to Miami after the Lakers traded the center to the Heat in 2004.
“Take Shaquille’s habit of ‘going missing,” Henderson recalled. ‘Our chef did all the grocery shopping. His managers paid all the bills. I took care of the kids. So where was he going in the morning, day, and night? No one works out that often.”
One day after her memoir was published, the basketball legend appeared to reply to her ex-wife, Shaunie Henderson.
On May 8, O’Neal took to Instagram to share a seemingly pointed message in response to Henderson. “I understand…I wouldn’t have been in love with me either. Wishing you all the best. All love, Shaq,” he wrote in white text over a black screen.
O’Neal captioned the post, “Trust me, I get it.”
Henderson and O’Neal are parents to four children: daughters Amirah and Me’arah and sons Shareef and Shaqir.
Taahirah, O’Neal’s daughter from a previous relationship, and Myles, Henderson’s son from an earlier relationship, eventually adopted O’Neal’s last name.
