Shaq Takes Blame For Marriage Failing – ‘It Was All Me’

The NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal is opening up this week to take responsibility for the failure of his marriage to Shaunie O’Neal, who he was married to from 2002 until they divorced in 2011.

‘I Was Bad’

“I was bad,” Shaq, 50, said while appearing on “The Pivot Podcast” on Tuesday. “She was awesome. She really was. It was all me.”

While Shaq wouldn’t get into the details, he admitted that he “wasn’t protecting her and protecting those vows.”

“Sometimes when you live that double life, you get caught up,” the basketball icon continued. “I’m not going to say it was her. It was all me.” 

Related: Shaquille O’Neal Gives Back: Gifts Over 1,000 Christmas Presents To Underprivileged Kids

Shaq Felt ‘Lost’ After Split

Shaq then recalled that he felt “lost” after he and Shaunie separated back in 2009. 

“I was just being greedy,” he said. “I had the perfect situation. Wife was finer than a mug, kept giving me babies, still finer than a mug. I had it all, and I don’t make excuses – I know I messed up.”

Shaq credited Shaunie with doing everything possible to save their marriage, including giving him four “beautiful kids,” maintaining a gorgeous home, and taking care of “corporate stuff.” 

“It was just all me,” he said. “Sometimes, when you make a lot of mistakes like that, you can’t really come back from that. As I get older and dwell on situations, I can honestly say it was all me, because I was big time.”

Related: Shaq Stands Up For Our Men & Women In Blue

Shaunie Moves On 

Shaunie has since moved on with her life, getting engaged to pastor Keion Henderson in November of last year, according to Page Six. In his interview on Tuesday, Shaq appeared to wish his ex-wife nothing but the best with her future husband.

“She’s happy now,” he said. “She’s about to marry a fine, young gentleman, and I’m happy for her, and we have a great relationship.”

Check out Shaq’s full comments on this in the video below. 

Shaq Loves His Kids

Shaq and Shaunie tied the knot in 2002, and though they separated for the first time in 2007, they were able to reconcile briefly. Sadly, this reconciliation didn’t last, and they split for good in 2009 before finalizing their divorce two years later in 2011. They are parents of four children together: Shareef, 22, Amirah, 20, Shaqir, 19, and Me’arah, 15. 

In this same interview, Shaq talked about how much he loves coming home to a house full of children who love him regardless of how he performs on the court.

“The best feeling for me was coming home and hearing 5-6 different voices,” he said, according to Yahoo News. “Don’t matter if I miss 15 free throws and we lost. They don’t care about that.”

God bless Shaq for being so open about the breakdown of his marriage, and what he perceives to be his own failures in that relationship. There are millions of Americans out there that will certainly be able to relate to what he had to say.