During their marriage, Shaunie Henderson and Shaquille O’Neal encountered many difficulties that led to their 2011 divorce. O’Neal’s opulent NBA lifestyle greatly influenced the nature of their turbulent union.
Though O’Neal’s extramarital affairs have been acknowledged by both Henderson and O’Neal as a major factor in their breakup, Shaunie thinks her ex-husband was dealing with a challenging circumstance.
Shaunie recognized that Shaq’s extravagant lifestyle was a consequence of his celebrity status in the NBA in her biography From Undefeated: Changing the Ways and Winning on My Own Terms, which was released in May 2024.
Shaunie Henderson talks about Shaquille O’Neal’s aura
She acknowledged that it was difficult for her ex-husband to balance his multimillionaire athletic career with his marriage, kids, and other responsibilities. Many people yearned to be in Shaq’s inner circle since he was a successful NBA player.
Not unexpectedly, a lot of ladies wanted to have sex with him. She understood that being so well-known may have a negative impact on marriages. She said : “I stress that I’m not blaming Shaquille for what happened to our marriage. He did the best he could with the tools he had. So did I. He was trying to be a world- famous, thirtysomething multimillionaire with thousands of women throwing themselves at him, and people in general begging just to be in his presence, while being a husband and a father at the same time,” Shaunie wrote.
“How could anyone possibly know how to do that?”
Henderson admitted that they both made an effort to maintain their marriage despite these diversions. But it was not intended to be. In light of this, she declines to hold Shaq solely responsible for their 2011 divorce. Henderson acknowledged in her memoir that she might not have even been in love with Shaq.
