Accused by Shaunie of Cheating With Gilbert Arenas’ Wife, Shaquille O’Neal Defended Tiger Woods During Notorious Controversy

Without a doubt, Shaquille O’Neal is one of the biggest names in the league. His work as an NBA analyst and frequent interviews across media platforms have only grown his brand. But behind the entertaining legend lies a man who hurt his ex-wife deeply. Shaq, in his own words, was a serial cheater.

His fame and the very public nature of a few of his affairs certainly set up his image as a philanderer. But O’Neal owned up to them. He never hid from it or tried to dodge accusations. Diesel has always been upfront about his shortcomings. So, naturally, because Shaq so readily speaks about cheating and why he did it, he has sort of become the unofficial spokesperson for celebrity cheaters.

So, naturally, when the Tiger Woods cheating scandal was unearthed back in 2009, Shaquille O’Neal chimed in. Diesel, who claimed to be friends with Tiger, defended the legendary golfer and urged people not to pay heed to non-news sources.

Shaquille O’Neal defended Tiger Woods after cheating scandal reveal

Tiger Woods has always had a good bond with NBA stars. A close friend of Michael Jordan, Woods, it seems, was also pals with the Big Aristotle. Now one thing about Shaq, all his viciousness and notoriety aside, he is fiercely loyal to his friends.

As long as being loyal doesn’t limit his bedmates, O’Neal is steadfast. He put his loyalty on display when defending Tiger. Shaq warned people to differentiate between truth and allegations.

Shaq: “Tiger’s my guy. I’m not going to be like everybody else and say off-the-wall comments. I just hope he’s OK. The problem going on is when you have people disguising as media putting out reports, and then people believing what they read. We don’t know what’s fact, we don’t know what’s true. We just hope he’s OK.”

Days after the revelation of her affair with Tiger Woods in 2009, Rachel Uchitel signed an NDA more than 30 pages long. Now, Uchitel — tired of not being able to defend herself against tabloids and gossip websites — is ready to blow it all up. https://t.co/O3y7Vx6Q7H

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 9, 2021

Fascinatingly, O’Neal’s comments came in the midst of his own relationship troubles. The rumors of his affair with Gilbert Arenas’ ex-wife were ripe and Shaunie was clearly aware of it.

Shaunie accused Laura of having an affair with Shaq

Knowing the past allegations of Shaq and Laura’s affair, it was only natural that Shaunie didn’t take too kindly to the NBA WAG. But no one expected to actually confront Laura about it. Per TMZ, Shaunie had a blowout with Govan over the rumors. But Shaunie’s anger hardly seems unwarranted. After all, she went through a lot during her relationship with Shaq.

Of all the questionable things Shaq has done in his life, cheating on Shaunie Henderson regularly has to be one of the worst. The numerous affairs and lies were harsh on his ex-wife, who was solely dedicated to raising their kids. Some might argue that O’Neal acknowledged and apologized for everything he did.

To be fair, he did. O’neal did apologize and mend his bond with Shaunie enough to raise their kids in a more positive environment. But though his apology was heartfelt, it was seemingly a bit too late in the grand scheme of things.