When Shaunie and Keion Henderson met, they had both similar but different experiences. Both were divorced with kids of their own. But only one was a highly publicized relationship from beginning to end. Shaunie’s divorce from Shaquille O’Neal made her learn and grow, become more self-reliant, and have higher standards in a relationship, things she lists in her memoir, Undefeated. During an appearance on the Dear Future Wifey show, Keion Henderson revealed that his experience from his divorce was different. And it resulted in some consequences for his early relationship with Shaunie.

Following the end of his first marriage, the Houston-based pastor said his thought process was, “I don’t want to get married because I don’t want to fail because if I survive this [divorce], I definitely can’t survive it again.” He doesn’t disclose much about his past marriage, when he divorced and maintains his ex’s privacy. He has a young daughter from that relationship who keeps out of the public eye too. Meanwhile, Basketball Wives star, Shaunie, finalized her divorce in 2011 and met Keion in 2019.

But there would be a few hiccups in the beginning. “It was not about her, it was about me,” Henderson said during the show. “I knew that my chances of surviving another marriage were less than surviving the other one. So I started self-sabotaging if I’m telling the truth.” 

He doesn’t specify how. Shaunie kept her first most serious romance after Shaq a secret till their engagement and televised destination wedding. They had been dating for two years but Keion says, “I probably missed six to eight months of happiness with her cuz I wasn’t happy with myself.” 

Not only his trauma, but Keion held back at the start of the relationship to protect Shaunie. It would take a while for them to be comfortable going on dates.

Keion Henderson protected Shaunie

When they were initially dating, Shaunie spent most of her time between Los Angeles and Miami as seen on Basketball Wives, and was a recognizable reality star. Henderson leads an entire church in Houston. Their relationship grew with regular Facetime. Though they could get on a flight to see each other, they made the conscious decision not to. Keion said it was not only because of the trauma of one marriage failing but because his divorce was not final yet when he started dating Shaunie.

It took three years for the “messy and elongated” divorce to end. At that time, the narrative that was spun was that Shaunie was cheating with a married man. But Keion said it was not the case and he didn’t want her to be caught by paparazzi and dragged if they went out on a date. So they’d FaceTime from restaurants for almost eight months, hoping they’d be able to go on in-person dates in the near future.

Eventually, Shaunie moved to Houston with her youngest kids. She announced her engagement to Keion in 2021. Their wedding in Anguilla was aired on Vh1 and two years in, they’re still going strong.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.