Shaquille O’Neal will always keep it 100 percent real, even when it comes to his personal life.
Most sports fans know Shaq as one of the most entertaining men in sports who thrives in whatever space he’s in, whether it’s TV, music, DJing or podcasting. But what normally goes unnoticed is his honesty towards other professional athletes, which he demonstrated multiple times during NBA All-Star Weekend.
During his latest episode of “The Big Podcast,” the NBA Hall of Famer opened up to Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce and used his own life as an example of why he shouldn’t let his ego get in the way of how he treats his family.
“My advice to you is you are going to retire, accept it,” he said. “Enjoy your family brother. I made a lot of dumb a** mistakes to where I lost my family and I didn’t have anybody. Enjoy your beautiful wife, enjoy your beautiful kids, and never dwell on what we had.”
“What we had is what we got. You got the ring. People know who you are. Enjoy it because again, I was an idiot and I’ve talked about it for a long time. I’m in a 100,000-square-foot house by myself. “
From 2002 to 2011, Shaq was married to Shaunie Henderson and had four children with her: Shareef, Shaqir, Amirah and Me’arah. He also has a stepchild, Myles, from Nelson’s previous relationship whom he also takes care of; and a daughter, Taahirah, from his relationship with Arnetta Yardbourgh.
Although he’s admittedly not as close to them as he’d like to be, he still loves taking care of his kids, telling “The Pivot Podcast,” “I have two wonderful women that have given me beautiful, gorgeous children. I have to protect and I have to provide and I have to love them forever.”
During the same interview, he also admitted that he did not treat Henderson as well as he should have: “I was bad. She was awesome. It was all me. We don’t need to talk about what I was doing but I was not protecting her and protecting those vows. Sometimes when you live that double life you get caught up. I’m not gonna say it was her, it was all me. She did exactly what she was supposed to do and gave me beautiful kids, took care of the house, and took care of corporate stuff. It was all me.”
The couple got divorced in May 2011. Henderson, who is one of the producers of “Basketball Wives, has since gotten remarried and taken on the last name of her new husband, Pastor Keion Henderson.