Independent of her previous relationship with Shaquille O’Neal, Shaunie Henderson is as self-made as it can get. With the success of Basketball Wives and its spinoffs, she’s established herself as a media mogul with a $35 million net worth. She’s now a bestselling author, a popular influencer, and a podcaster, and has been taking care of herself for two decades. So on the return of her podcast, The Groow Zone, she told her husband and cohost, Keion Henderson, there’s a kind of ‘romantic’ gift she frowns upon with an example. Henderson could understand why a successful tycoon like Shaunie would hate that kind of gift but he had a hilarious counter to it.

Shaunie has mentioned in her memoir, Undefeated, on her shows, and other interviews that the thought counts more than the gift for her. She narrated to Keion the time she got the “worst ‘loving’ gift for Valentine’s Day” in the past. And it was so bad, she airquoted ‘loving.’

“I got $25,000 balled up in a shoe box… like took the time to take each $100 bill and like fluff them to fill a Jordan shoe box.” Now we know what you’re thinking. But Shaunie never says who gave that gift.

She’s had a few rumored romances between her divorce from Shaq in 2011 and announcing her engagement to Keion in 2021. One of the well-known relationships was with the actor, Marlon Yates from 2010 to 2016. She’d meet Keion around 2019. Among her known exes, one person is known to drop cash on a whim, like tipping his waiters $4000. But she never says who.

What she does say is, “That’s not romantic.” Her husband would beg to differ.

Keion Henderson went on record to say, “If you ever feel like you want to ball up $25,000 in a shoe box, please think of me, I mean, think of me. I just want to be thought of.” He threw in a Gollum impression to demonstrate too. So he means it. And there would be some who see the pastor’s perspective, too.

Invaluable gestures keep Shaunie and Keion Henderson strong

Keion does understand that Shaunie doesn’t need anyone to gift her $25,000. He also knows that she values attention and quality time over material gifts, something she said in her memoir was missing in her previous marriage. Yet, he admits that since he’s seen some very hard times in the past, a gift like that would be appreciated.

Outside an expensive gesture like that, a certain crisis is also making Keion Henderson feel the value of generosity. Hurricane Beryl tore through the Houston Lighthouse Church campus in Humble and the damage is far greater than anticipated. The pastor made an appeal to the local community and beyond to help rebuild.

While many responded generously, some were critical. They allege that Shaunie could use her own wealth to rebuild the campus. Some went as far as to suggest that there’s trouble in paradise for Shaunie to not help financially. Note: there’s no indication that Shaunie hasn’t done her bit, though she has rallied support within the community.

Despite the criticism, Shaunie and Keion have bounced back. The Houston Lighthouse Church reopened last Sunday with fanfare. There still needs to be work done, but the Hendersons and their community showed enthusiasm to return.

Meanwhile, all those rumors were for nothing. Shaunie expressed that she is grateful for Keion’s little gestures for the thought he puts into them. Now we’d have to wait and see if Keion receives a shoebox full of his wife’s thoughts too.