Reality TV queen Shaunie Henderson dropped a few bombs in her memoir Undefeated: Changing the Rules and Winning On My Own Terms, which was released on Tuesday, May 5.
Most shocking is the fact that Henderson — who was once Shaunie “O’Neal” — admits that she was probably never in love with her ex-husband, basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, despite bearing five children with the NBA Hall of Famer.
“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,” she penned in the book, according to Essence magazine. Henderson adds that she was more in love with the concept of being in love.
“I was in love with the idea” of her and O’Neal “building a life together.” “I truly did enjoy spending time with him,” Henderson penned. “[NBA] road trips allowed me to be with my husband and experience the NBA life for a little while.”
Henderson said Shaq was immersed in the NBA life while simultaneously trying to be a husband and father to their children, a chore that proved impossible for the 7-foot-1 goliath.
“He was trying to be a world-famous, thirty-something multimillionaire with thousands of women throwing themselves at him, and people in general begging just to be in his presence, while being a husband and a father simultaneously,” she reportedly wrote. “How could anyone possibly know how to do that?”
Fans registered mostly shock at Shaunie’s revelation
Many fans found Henderson’s revelation startling and curious.
“So just a few kids with a man you didn’t love… that’s crazy” an Instagram user said, while a second person shared, “So maybe she is saying this because she is finally experiencing how to be properly loved!!”
A third person wrote that “She is saying that now that she’s remarried, she found a different version of herself and a different take/view on love. What she thought was love with Shaq, isn’t the same as what’s she’s experiencing now…” A fourth IG user was unsympathetic to Henderson, saying, “That says more about her than him.”
Other fans were incredulous, saying that it “Sounds like she loved the idea of being a NBA player’s wife, the lifestyle and the money,” while another person was bewildered by Henderson’s words, penning “… you had 5-6 kids with him though?!?!”
