Shaquille O'Neal has revealed that he’s taking accountability for his divorce from ex-wife Shaunie O’Neal, detailing how it was “all” on him as he “wasn’t protecting her”.
The former basketball star opened up about his divorce, which was finalised in 20011, during a recent appearance on The Pivot Podcast. While detailing some of his regrets, he explained he blamed himself for the breakup and expressed how “awesome” his ex-wife was.
“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,” he said. “She was awesome. She really was. It was all me.”
While Shaq said that he didn’t need to “talk about” what things he’d done during the marriage, he did confess to not “protecting those vows” made in it.
“I wasn’t protecting her,” he said. “I wasn’t protecting those vows. Sometimes when you live that double life, you get caught up. I’m not going to say it was her. It was all me.”
The NBA player applauded Shaunie for all the work she did to help their family and admitted that he made “a lot of mistakes,” which affected their marriage.
“She did exactly what she was supposed to do and gave me beautiful kids, take care of the house, take care of the corporate stuff,” he continued. “It was just all me. Sometimes, when you make a lot of mistakes like that, you can’t really come back from that.”
He also expressed how “happy” he is for Shaunie, as she had revealed to People last November that she was engaged to pastor Keion Henderson, after two years together.
“But she’s happy now,” he added. “She’s about to marry a fine, young gentleman and I’m happy for her.”
The former couple, who had gotten married in 2002, share four children: Shareef, 22, Amirah, 20, Shaqir, 19, and Me’arah, 15. Shaunie has a son, Myles, 24, from a previous relationship and Shaq shares daughter, Taahirah, 25, with his ex Arnetta Yardbourgh.
