“Felt Terribly Guilty”: Divorce From Shaquille O’Neal Forced Ex-Wife Shaunie Into Ruining Own Parenting Rules

Shaquille O’Neal and his ex-wife Shaunie Henderson have always been upfront about their divorce. It was a very public and unpleasant split. When she filed for the divorce, Shaunie felt like “it was like a weight lifted off of me.” While they have maintained an amicable relationship for their kids since then, in her recent memoir, Shaunie revealed that she was burdened with one guilt because of her decision. She also shared how her divorce from Shaq and the overpowering guilt led her to break a few of her own parenting rules.

The 49-year-old opened up about her regret of breaking up the family of her children into two and was worried that it might have impacted her kids. Although she aimed for her children to be independent and responsible, Shaunie recalled that her guilt led her to end up helping them more than she intended.

“I confess that when I became a single parent, I may have disabled my own children’s resilience a bit by overcompensating. For a long time, I felt terribly guilty about breaking up our two-parent home, so I coped by trying to solve every problem for them,” Shaunie wrote in her memoir, Undefeated, Changing the Rules and Winning on My Own Terms.

She mentioned that she might have picked that habit from her mother. Henderson further explained that although her own mother made the mistake of helping her kids with everything, she was determined not to repeat it with her own children, as she didn’t want them to become dependent and “helpless”.

Now, as her youngest, Me’arah is about to start her college journey and live away from her family, Shaunie also expresses her desire for her daughter to become self-sufficient and learn essential skills to solve her own problems. 

Shaunie Henderson on breaking the cycle of mistakes

Everything mentioned above is part of Shaunie’s unique ways and values of raising her children, whom she shares with her ex-husband. While a few particular quotes on the Los Angeles Lakers legend are making headlines, the book is not just about Shaquille O’Neal. It inclines more on the life lessons Henderson learned.

Both Henderson and her mother dealt with the issue of having a partner who was not loyal. However, Shaunie revealed that her mother decided to stay together with her husband despite his infidelity. Her parents were together until Henderson’s father passed away in December 2022. The mother of five revealed that her earlier instinct was to follow what her mother did.

“I’m not proud of the fact that I spent so many years in denial. It shows how easy it is to slip into patterns and become comfortable with them even when they’re toxic,” Shaunie wrote in her memoir. Later, Shaunie realized that she didn’t want to make the same mistake as her mother. Henderson has detailed many more instances of her relationship with her kids and mother in the memoir.