Shaquile O’Neal has responded to a book excerpt in which his ex-wife, Shaunie Henderson, admitted she might have never been in love with the NBA legend.
Henderson, now 49, who created the VH1 “Basketball Wives” series, released a book this week entitled “Undefeated: Changing the Rules and Winning on My Own Terms.”
O’Neal, 52, now an NBA studio analyst for TNT, responded in a post on Instagram to what Henderson had written about their marriage in her book.
“I understand,” O’Neal wrote.
“I wouldn’t have been in love with me either. Wishing you all the best. All love, Shaq.”
He added, “Trust me, I get it.”
The couple married in 2002 and divorced in 2011.
“I enjoyed those sweet early years being a mother and raising my children; my days were always busy with kids and family, and every now and then I got to travel or enjoy a little of the NBA high life. But invisibly, my marriage was beginning to crumble,” Henderson, now 49, wrote.
“As I’ve written, it wasn’t obvious early on. You know how when you first get sick, and the symptoms are so mild that you’re not even sure you are sick? That’s how things were in the early years. I was busy and happy and didn’t notice what was going on. But as the disease progressed, the symptoms became harder and harder to ignore.”
The couple shares four children together — sons Shareef and Shaqir and daughters Amirah and Me’arah — while O’Neal has a daughter, Taahirah, from a prior relationship, and Henderson has a son, Myles, from a previous relationship.
Henderson wrote that O’Neal had a habit of “going missing” and that she suspected infidelity.
“Looking back, I don’t know that I was ever really in love with the man, but I was in love with the idea of being married to the man I had a family with,” Henderson wrote.
“I was in love with the idea of building a life together. I truly did enjoy spending time with him. [NBA] road trips gave me a chance to be with my husband and experience the NBA life for a little while.”
Last June, O’Neal admitted where he came up short as a husband.
“I had two perfect women and I messed it up,” Shaq told the singer Monica on her podcast.
“My first one was my baby mother, Arnetta [Yardbourgh], and then I met Shaunie [Nelson]. Shaunie was also a perfect woman and I messed it up.
“Yeah, you know, we were young and always just doing dumb stuff. But, the good thing about our relationship is that they forgave me and we have a good relationship now. But when you ask me about the perfect woman — I had two perfect women and I messed it up, just by, you know, being dumb.”
He relayed the advice he gives his sons in their relationships.
“First thing you have to be is honest, honest with yourself and honest with your partner… I tell my sons all the time, a man has three jobs when it comes to a woman. Protect, provide and love,” O’Neal continued.
“Some men can only offer two, for whatever reason, but I’ma teach you how to offer all three. And that’s what I try to do — and even though I don’t have a relationship with the women that I let get away, I will always PPL: protect, provide, and love, whatever they need they get it from me.”