Shaquille O’Neal has left fans worried after appearing to address his ex-wife Shaunie Henderson’s comments about the breakdown of their marriage.
O’Neal and Henderson divorced in 2011 after nearly nine years of marriage and speaking earlier this week, she said the NBA legend kept “disappearing” and she’s not sure if she ever truly loved him. .
He appeared to address those comments with a post on Instagram on Thursday, saying in a post written in capital letters: “I get it… I wouldn’t have been in love with myself either.” I wish you all the best… All love, Shaq.’
He captioned the post: “Believe me, I get it.”
Fans were quick to offer her support in the comments, with one saying: “I wish I never said that.” Some things you keep to yourself.
Shaquille O’Neal has left fans worried after appearing to address his ex-wife Shaunie Henderson’s comments about how their marriage ended.
The NBA legend posted a message on Instagram that seems to respond to him
Shaunie Henderson claims Shaquille O’Neal was still ‘missing’ before divorce
Another wrote: “This man doesn’t put anything personal in the media so the fact that this information is being said publicly hits the mark.”
A different comment read, “Shaq is going through this now,” with a crying emoji.
Henderson and O’Neal married in December 2002 and share four children: sons Shareef and Shaquir and daughters Amirah and Me’arah. O’Neal also had a daughter, Taariah, from a previous relationship. Meanwhile, Henderson’s son Myles, also from a previous relationship, later took the center’s surname.
In her new book ‘Undefeated: Changing the Rules and Winning on My Own Terms’, the Basketball Wives creator recounted how she saw the first signs of the end of her marriage to O’Neal.
‘I enjoyed those sweet first years of being a mother and raising my children; My days were always filled with kids and family, and from time to time I would travel or enjoy a little bit of the high NBA life. But, invisibly, my marriage was beginning to fall apart.’ Henderson wrote, as reported by the New York Post.
‘As I’ve written, it wasn’t obvious from the start. You know when you first get sick and the symptoms are so mild that you’re not even sure you’re sick? That’s how things were in the early years. I was busy and happy and didn’t realize what was happening. But as the disease progressed, the symptoms became increasingly difficult to ignore.
“Looking back, I don’t know if I was ever really in love with that man, but I was in love with the idea of marrying the man I had a family with.”
Henderson recalled hearing rumors about O’Neal when they moved to Miami after the Lakers traded center to the Heat in 2004.
In her new memoir, Henderson detailed the events that led them to file for divorce.
The couple married in 2002 and share four children, Shareef, Shaquir, Amirah and Me’arah.
“Take Shaquille’s habit of ‘disappearing,'” Henderson recalled. ‘Our chef did all the shopping. His managers paid all the bills. I took care of the children. So where did she go in the morning, during the day and at night? Nobody exercises that often.
‘When we moved to Miami, I even heard a rumor that he had a condo in Miami Beach. I started to get suspicious, but he always had an answer and I could never prove anything. In the end, I was forced to admit that my family life was not as happy or perfect as I wanted to believe.’
The four-time NBA champion has taken responsibility for the consequences of his marriage on several occasions.
In his 2011 memoir, ‘Shaq Uncut: My Story,’ Diesel explained that he ‘was a guy with too many options’ and hinted that it indefinitely affected his marriage.
In April 2023, O’Neal appeared on ‘The Pivot Podcast’ and said, ‘I was bad, it was all me.’
O’Neal filed for divorce in Miami in September 2007 after admitting that he “was not protecting [Henderson] and protect those votes.’ However, the couple reconciled about a year later, and Henderson told the Associated Press that they stopped the divorce process.
They dumped him again in 2009 before their divorce was finalized in 2011.
More than a decade later, in May 2022, Shaunie married Pastor Keion Henderson.
In an interview with singer Monica, O’Neal wished Henderson and her new boyfriend the best, saying, “Shaunie was a perfect woman too and I ruined everything.”
“I hope this gentleman treats her like she’s supposed to be treated, and I’ll still love her,” O’Neal continued. She is still my wife. I will always protect her, take care of her and love her, whether she is married or not.”