Shaquille O’Neal has been publicly known to be married only once, to Shaunie Henderson from 2002 to 2009. Together, they co-parented six children. But recently, at a press event, Shaq made a surprising comment, stating that he had a wife. Naturally, that left many wondering…
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Shaq’s comment came at the UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony. This year, Israel Adesanya and Shaq’s good friend Vitor Belfort were among the inductees. ‘The Diesel’ had the honor of announcing Vitor’s induction during the ceremony.
But amid all the fanfare, Shaq casually mentioned having a wife from New Zealand when a reporter introduced herself to the Lakers legend. So is Shaq quietly living a life off-camera that the basketball world still doesn’t know about?
“Hello, Shaq. We’re from New Zealand,” the reporter for Sky Sports NZ said.
“I know where you’re from. My wife is from New Zealand,” Shaq replied. This furrowed the brow of the reporter as she couldn’t possibly think of who Shaq was talking about. After all, publicly, he hasn’t been married for 16 years.
She immediately pressed further. “Oh, okay. What’s her name?” the interviewer asked. Shaq responded: “Can’t tell you. She’s hot.”
That’s a typical Shaq response. He has always been one to keep his cards close to the chest, especially when it comes to his dating life. But in this case, he wasn’t being serious.
He doesn’t have a “hot wife” from New Zealand. Shaq was just being his usual playful self. Maybe he cracked the joke because the interviewer and the channel were from New Zealand.
Maybe he just wanted to get a quick rise out of everyone. Or maybe he was even flirting with the interviewer a little. With Shaq, you never really know.
Currently, Shaq has no wife or partner. At least, that’s what he has made known to the public. But he could likely have a secret relationship.
It’s not that Shaq didn’t like being married. Once, he even took responsibility for the mistakes in his previous marriage, while also saying that Shaunie was amazing to him.
“I was bad, she was awesome, she really was. It was all me. I wasn’t protecting her, and protecting those vows. Sometimes when you live a double life, you get caught up. So, I’m not going to say it was her, it was all me…We have a great relationship, but as I get older and dwell on situations, I can honestly say it was all on me,” Shaq once told The Pivot Podcast.
So, it’s not like the NBA Hall of Famer isn’t looking for a relationship. He just lives such a busy life. Between his job as an analyst, actor, and part-time DJ, he’s not an easy guy to date.
Who knows what controversy Shaq was trying to stir up this time? But we know that he loves to pump-fake the public from time to time. This was more of the same. Nice fake-out, big guy.
