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 player told People in a Monday cover story. “You don’t realize how good something is until it’s gone.”
This is not the first time O’Neal has taken responsibility for his 2011 divorce from the “Basketball Wives” alum.
In the April 19 episode of “The Pivot Podcast,” he stated in a cryptic manner, “I was bad, and she was great. She indeed was. It was entirely my doing.”
Although the four-time NBA champion did not reveal “what [he] was doing wrong” at the time, he did admit that he “was not protecting Henderson and those vows.”
In 2011, O’Neal and Henderson’s divorce was finalized.
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In 2011, O’Neal and Henderson’s divorce was finalized.
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In 2011, O’Neal and Henderson’s divorce was finalized.
“It could be extremely difficult for me to have children,”…
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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 added 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 said. “Sometimes, when you make a lot of mistakes 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 finalized in 2011.
In May, the former “Basketball Wives” cast member wed pastor 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 since moved on, marrying pastor Keion Henderson in an extravagant ceremony in May on the island of Anguilla.