For Shaquille O’Neal’s Sake, Ex-Wife Shaunie Kept Their Kids in the Dark Until Public Confession

When Undefeated caused an uproar for Shaunie’s revelation about her feelings for Shaq, their kids responded publicly too. Shareef and Shaqir assured their dad they loved him and didn’t think any differently of him. Shaunie Henderson also felt more at ease talking about the breakdown of her first marriage when Shaquille O’Neal publicly took accountability for it. Throughout it all, both have displayed a healthy co-parenting relationship of mutual respect. On the TMI Podcast, Shaunie admitted this will always be her stance for the sake of her children and even her ex-husband.

“One thing I did as a mom, I never talked bad about their dad ever,“ said Shaunie to the podcast hosts. As far as the eye can see, O’Neal adheres to it too and never spoke ill about his ex-wife. He’s called her awesome in fact and a great mom.

Shaunie explained that they maintained this stance during their highly publicized divorce too. “Even we could be over here arguing, but it’s gonna be. They never you know, they never knew, especially during the divorce, because we we worked to get here at first. It wasn’t this easy, and I was intentional about never speaking bad in front of them about him. I mean, no matter what was going on, they never really knew. My kids are honestly learning a lot of truth out of this room right now.”

Shaq and Shaunie have five kids between them (Shaq adopted her son, Myles, and Taahirah is his daughter from another relationship). Now their youngest, Me’Arah is 18 and their other kids are older too. In her memoir Shaunie admitted focusing on her kids to distract from Shaq’s infidelity until she couldn’t tolerate it. She would’ve been around five when her parents separated and her siblings not much older. It would be understandable if they kept the bitterness away from the kids’ eyes then.

How much of their parents’ marriage and divorce they are discovering now is unknown. Regardless, they’ve shown their support to their parents in moving ways.

Shaunie and Shaq are a stronger unit

Even though Shaunie admitted she kept details about what went into the book away from her kids, they are hyping her memoir without inhibitions. Their support didn’t wane even though Shaunie wrote in the book that she didn’t love her then-husband. Contrary to the vitriol Shaunie got, her ex-husband wrote on Instagram, “I understand… I wouldn’t have been in love with me either,” and wished her well. 

Under that concerning post, two of their sons sent their love to him. Shaqir wrote, “You know I love ya twin.” However, Shareef commenting, “Love you man! you saved my life,” reflects Shaunie’s parenting policy.

The diagnosis of his heart condition and the subsequent treatment was a trying time for his family. Shaunie and Shaq weren’t bitter exes and were visibly a strong unit supporting their son. It proves they cemented their co-parenting dynamic by being kind to each other.

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