Shaquille O’Neal acknowledges that he was the issue in his marriage to Shaunne Henderson.
“I was a d–khead,” the 50-year-old former basketball star told People in a Monday cover story. “You don’t realize how nice something is until it’s gone.”
This is not the first time O’Neal has claimed responsibility for his 2011 divorce from the “Basketball Wives” star.
In the April 19 episode of “The Pivot Podcast,” he stated in a cryptic manner, “I was horrible, and she was great. She certainly was. It was all my doing.”
Although the four-time NBA champion would not divulge “what [he] was doing wrong” at the time, he did admit that he “was not safeguarding Henderson and those promises.”
In 2011, O’Neal and Henderson’s divorce was completed.
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In 2011, O’Neal and Henderson’s divorce was completed.
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In 2011, O’Neal and Henderson’s divorce was completed.
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“When you lead a double life, you sometimes get caught. I will not assert that it was she. I did everything,” he continued.
O’Neal claimed that Henderson did everything she could to ensure the stability of their marriage, including giving birth to their four “beautiful children” and taking care of their home.
Henderson and O’Neal have four children in common.
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“I did it all by myself,” he remarked. “Sometimes, when you make a lot of blunders like that, it’s impossible to recover.”
In 2002, the former Los Angeles Lakers player and Henderson wed. Following a five-year separation, the couple reconciled shortly thereafter. In 2009, she filed for a second divorce, which was completed in 2011.
In May, the former “Basketball Wives” cast member wed preacher Keion Henderson.
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The former couple shares custody of four children: Shareef, 22, Amirah, 21, Shaqir, 19, and Me’arah, 16.
Henderson has now moved on, married pastor Keion Henderson in an extravagant ceremony in May on the island of Anguilla.