In her book Undefeated, Shaunie Henderson spilled details about her highly-publicized divorce from NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal that took place in 2011. She reveals the turmoil she felt during the process and a fear of how it would impact their kids. But in a surprising turn of events, the split hardly affected the kids says Henderson.
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“Some of them asked why we were splitting up, but nobody was particularly sad. I was so alarmed by their calm demeanor that I started taking them to a therapist. … he said, ‘They’re fine. They’re just kind of disconnected from their father. What I get from them is, ‘Oh, we won’t see him every day? Okay. Business as usual.’ My children were fine. People ask me, “How did you get five kids through a divorce?” It was the fact that they had never had the foundation of a happy home, so they weren’t losing one.”
Due to the fact that Shaq played 19 seasons in the NBA, it was difficult for him to make his presence felt at a consistent rate in his home with his then-wife and children. So, when Shaunie says they never had the ‘foundation of a happy home’, she heavily implies that O’Neal was simply not around enough. His near two decade long schedule established an emotional gap between him and his children, hence them not being all too affected.
Henderson was unaware of this disconnect that was taking place so it does make sense that she sought out professional help to make sure things weren’t awry. Her staying with O’Neal for as long as she did and going back and forth with filing for divorce between 2007 and 2011 was because of her worrying for her kids’ mental health in the aftermath.
Now that the Lakers legend has been retired for over 13 years, he’s been able to solidify his relationship with all of his children. He’s publicly come out and admitted his absence in his kids’ lives, stating once, “I was gone a lot because of my job and I didn’t always want to be the bad guy, so I sort of relinquished my position as (disciplinarian).”
Shaunie Henderson didn’t divorce Shaquille O’Neal earlier to keep the family together
Henderson always put her children and the family before anything else. She was worried about how a split would impact her children at home and in school. This was the main reason she stayed married to Shaquille O’Neal for so long. To keep the family intact. In Undefeated, she said,
“I was raised to value family above everything else, and my instinct was to keep my family intact at all costs, even the cost of my own happiness.”
Henderson had been unhappy for a long time and had an inkling that the NBA legend might be having multiple affairs. She stayed with him to keep the kids and family happy. Despite her reservations, Shaunie was happy that her children were okay with the divorce. Fast-forward to present, she’s married to Keion Henderson with Shaq even being invited to her wedding.
