Shaunie O’Neal better known as Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-wife to many, has kept his name for the last 20 years. The couple fell in love and got married in 2003. The marriage lasted nine years, and the couple had four children during that time. However, the couple would split, due to several problems. Despite this, the mother of Shaq’s children kept his name for more than a decade after they split up.
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O’Neal has been very open about the fact that he and Shaunie are great co-parents. That said, Shaunie has now decided to move on with her personal life. Shaunie decided to get remarried and will be dropping the O’Neal in the process. Shaunie believes that she would like to move on with her life without carrying the O’Neal name. She even said that Shaq didn’t object to the same.
Shaunie opens up about dropping the name ‘O’Neal’
Shaq and Shaunie got divorced in 2011. Though Shaunie left Shaq, she still kept the last name, O’Neal. During a show on VH1 revealed the reason she kept the last name for so long. Shaunie tells her co-hosts ” I have had my last name as O’Neal since 2003, and getting divorced with very small children, I kept it for the sake of my kids“.
Shaunie also gives her co-host a reason for her switching her last name. She tells them ” I can’t go into this new chapter, with a new man, with my ex’s name“. Even though Shaunie may be moving on, they share the unbreakable bond of being parents.
The couple had four kids during their nine-year marriage: Shareef, Amirah, Shaqir, and Me’arah. These children came following Myles O’Neal too, Shaunie’s child with a different partner, who Shaq proudly adopted. The former wife of Shaq even mentioned during the show that Shaq was okay with her getting remarried.
Shaq still considers Shaunie his wife
O’Neal may be okay with his wife getting remarried but his feelings don’t seem to have changed at all. Shaq during a radio show once mentioned that he still considers Shaunie his wife.
While Shaq has been with many women, he only ever married Shaunie O’Neal (now Henderson). O’Neal honestly told the media that it was completely his fault for messing it up. Haunted by his own mistakes, Shaq now hopes to instill better values in his boys, to make sure they maintain healthy and long-lasting relationships.
