Shaquille O'Neal speaks highly of ex-wife Shaunie’s fiancé, Pastor Keion Henderson

relationships

Apr 20

By Nikki Kendricks // Relationships // EEW Magazine Online

Praise the Lord! There will be no drama between Shaunie O’Neal’s ex-husband, Shaquille O’Neal, and her new fiancé, Pastor Keion Henderson.

The NBA legend—whose marriage to the soon-to-be First Lady of The Lighthouse Church officially ended in 2011 after an initial separation in 2009—had nothing but glowing words to say about both Pastor Keion and the mother of his four children on the Tuesday episode of The Pivot Podcast.

"She's happy now," Shaq said on the podcast. "She's about to marry a fine, young gentleman, and I'm happy for her."

The Basketball Wives star and executive producer, 47, accepted a marriage proposal from Pastor Keion, 40, on Nov. 11 after almost two years of dating.

“He loves me and my children in a way that has changed my life and my heart. He makes me want to be better every day. And I pray that I do the same for him,” Shaunie gushed to People. “This love is forever, and I'm honored and overjoyed to do forever with him."

Pastor Keion Henderson proposes to Shaunie O’Neal (Credit: People)

Though the reality TV star and entrepreneur is blissfully happy these days, her marriage to Shaq was famously troubled. During his interview, the former iconic Los Angeles Lakers player, 50, got real about his NBA career, relationships, and past regrets, while he accepted total blame for his mess-ups.

"I've never talked about this, and I'm glad you guys asked, because I don't mind talking about this, but I was bad," said the sports analyst. "She was awesome. She really was. It was all me."

Though the Hall of Famer declined to explicate what he meant by “bad,” he did confess, "I wasn't protecting her and protecting those vows."

Shaq added, "Sometimes when you live that double life, you get caught up. I'm not going to say it was her; it was all me."

In his memoir, Shaq Uncut: My Story, he wrote, “At one time my ex-wife Shaunie and I were happy. But I admit it — I was a guy. I was a guy with too many options. Choosing to be with some of those women, well, that’s on me. In my mind, I never did it disrespectfully, but obviously I shouldn’t have done it all.”

While there is no such thing as cheating respectfully, Shaq now sees and admits the error of his ways and has no problem heaping praise upon Shaunie.

"She did exactly what she was supposed to do and gave me beautiful kids,” he said. The two are now successfully co-parenting Shareef, 22, Amirah, 20, Shaqir, 19, and Me'arah, 15. Shaunie is also mother to another son, Myles, 24, from a previous relationship.

According to Shaq, Shaunie was an effective helpmeet who would “take care of the house, take care of the corporate stuff.” He then reiterated on the podcast, “It was just all me. Sometimes when you make a lot of mistakes like that, you can't really come back from that."

Though romance is forever off the table for the two, Shaq and Shaunie have a strong friendship and have both moved on.

Nowadays, it’s all about Shaunie and Pastor Keion who knew each other professionally before striking up a romance in February 2020 after a mutual friend connected them.

This will be the second marriage for both of them. The young preacher, who shares a 9-year-old daughter with his ex-wife, filed for divorce from Felicia Henderson in 2019.