Shaquille O’Neal has responded to his ex-wife’s statement that she wasn’t sure she ever loved him.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday morning, the NBA superstar addressed revelations from Shaunie Henderson’s new book, including the confession that, looking back on her marriage, she doesn’t believe she was ever truly in love with the former basketball player, 52.
Following the news of Henderson’s eye-catching statements, Shaq himself responded to his ex-wife’s words by posting a short message on his Instagram grid.
“I see…I wouldn’t have been in love with myself either,” the athlete and philanthropist wrote.
He continued: “I wish you all the best… ❤️. All love. Shaq.”
The situation emerges from a recently published excerpt from Henderson’s new book: Undefeated: Change the rules and win on my own termsin which she states that she is questioning her love for her ex.
“Looking back, I don’t know if I was ever truly in love with the man, but I was in love with the idea of being married to the man I had a family with,” writes Henderson, 49 beings. “I was excited about the idea of building a life together. I really enjoyed spending time with him.” [NBA] Road trips allowed me to be with my husband and experience NBA life for a while.”
A source close to Shaq tells ET, “Shaq knew Shaunie wrote the book and he supported it, but he didn’t read it. Shaq believes Shaunie should be allowed to tell her story and understand that he wasn’t the perfect husband, but he loved her and her family.
The source adds: “He takes responsibility for the breakdown of their marriage and has had a lot of time to work on himself and grow. He believes Shaunie is a great mother to her children and always wants her to be happy. He won’t have that.” I can’t say anything bad about her and I wish her all the best.
The couple met in 1999 and married in 2002. During their nine-year marriage, they had four children together, one of whom even commented on Shaq’s worrying post.
“Literally the most lovable, personable person on the planet,” said 24-year-old Shareef Oldest of their brood — replied.
Shareef also commented, “I love you man! You saved my life,” supposedly referring to his Heart surgery 2023.
Aside from his relatives, Shaq also received support from some of his famous friends including Kate Beckinsale And Kenya Barris in the comments to his post.
“Class Act,” he wrote Black Creator, 49.
“Hey. We all have a sociopathic ex. I got you – do you want me to come over and grab you a wig or two? I’m going to… love you, man,” Beckinsale, 50, shared.
AND I last spoke to Shaq in January to talk about Shaq’s Fun House, a party he hosted in Las Vegas over Super Bowl weekend. The NBA center previously chatted with ET in August about his dramatic weight loss and his goals to become a healthier person overall.
“I’ll probably get between 315 and 330,” Shaq said, before discussing his weight loss goals previously sat with ET to talk about his transformative approach to nutrition.
“I didn’t know what the difference was between carbohydrates and proteins, at 50 years old I never knew. So he said, you can’t do this, you can’t do that, more vegetables, my iron is low. And just as I started changing those certain things, it fell away,” he shared.
RELATED CONTENT: