Shaquille O’Neal and Shaunie Henderson’s tumultuous marriage ended due to the Lakers icon’s slew of extramarital affairs. His ex-wife first learned about his infidelity in 2005, but they remained together until 2009 before she filed for divorce, which was finalized in 2011. Despite her husband being the common denominator in all the affairs, Henderson blamed the women involved with him for years rather than accepting that he was a disloyal and dishonest partner.
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In her 2022 book, Undefeated: Changing the Rules and Winning on My Own Terms, Henderson admitted that she stayed in the relationship too long after finding out about her ex-husband’s affairs. The 49-year-old author confessed that for a long time, she saw the women O’Neal was cheating on her with as her rivals. She believed she’d have to win her husband back from these women.
Henderson was convinced that the Hall of Famer’s mistresses were deliberately trying to sabotage their marriage and was adamant about not letting them. However, her reasoning absolved O’Neal of any wrongdoings. She didn’t hold him accountable for his indiscretions and harbored a misguided disdain towards the women courting him or the ones he courted, which she realized was incorrect. Henderson wrote,
“It’s hard for me to believe I stayed for as long as I did. Early on I really thought I loved my husband, and I desperately loved my family and wanted to try and protect and save it. I saw the other women as the enemy, and I would say things to myself like, I won’t let them win. They’re trying to break us up. They’re doing this on purpose!”
Henderson added that she refused to accept that O’Neal was the one at fault and it affected her relationship with her family and friends, who saw things as they were. She wrote that her life was “awful” but continued to pretend that it was perfect.
However, after years of catching him cheating, she finally gave up on her marriage in 2009. Despite his infidelity, Henderson doesn’t scorn her ex-husband. Instead, they have built a strong rapport to co-parent their four children together. But she wishes she had accepted the fate of their relationship long before she finally called it quits.
