Shaunie Henderson was once bitten, twice shy after divorce from Shaquille O’Neal, as she disclosed in her memoir, Undefeated. What we didn’t know was that her now husband was a little worse. Keion Henderson went through a divorce himself and was not sure he was ready to get married again when he met Shaunie. Yet on May 28, 2024, they’re celebrating two years of wedded bliss and five years together. In a rare moment of the couple on a show together, the pastor of Houston Lighthouse Church revealed how he truly felt in the initial period of his relationship with Shaunie.

“She was fine…I wasn’t okay,” he said bluntly via TMI Podcast. They would’ve been dating since around 2019. Shaunie had been divorced from Shaq since 2011 while Keion was fresh out of his own divorce from his ex-wife. “I actually met her defeated. I’d just come out of a divorce. She had been single, I believe at the time 10-11 years, and so when I met her, I was still like…I told her out the gate, I said, look,’ we can kick it. I ain’t never get married again.’ I told her, I ain’t never getting married again. I’m not going through that again. I don’t want to do it.“‘

Instead of getting disappointed or perhaps accepting it, Shaunie got cheeky. “She, you know, a little sassy. She said back to me, ‘well, how you know I want to marry you?’”

And despite the trauma and sass, they did end up engaged in 2021 after two years together. They married in Anguilla on May 28, 2022, with Shaunie’s daughters at her bridal party. As for his ex-wife, Keion says they keep their distance, and he also has a friendship with mutual admiration with Shaq. But what changed both their minds?

Keion Henderson is inspired by Shaunie

Shaunie had been scarred by her own dad’s infidelity to her mother and Shaq’s unfaithfulness. After finalizing her divorce in 2011, she was not looking for romance, anyway. She was dedicated to being a mom to her and Shaq’s five children and building her business till she met Keion.

Keion isn’t loosely throwing around the title of Shaunie’s memoir to promote it. It’s reflective of their relationship in many ways. She wouldn’t have taken the next step with him if Keion had not proven he was nothing like her father and treated her with respect. In fact, O’Neal also likes Keion because he treats Shaunie the way he should have treated her. Shaunie also had to learn to be a little dependent on a man once more after being a self-made media mogul for a decade.

For Keion, he attributes her strength to emerging “undefeated,” which made him believe he could get there too. That’s what makes them goals.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video.