Shaquille O’Neal vehemently defended his ex-wife when Channing Crowder, co-host of The Pivot Podcast, made comments about the basketball star’s divorce from Shaunie O’Neal. Crowder tried to blame Shaunie for the fallout, saying, “It’s two people in a divorce.”
Shaq, however, took the blame for the fallout.
“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.”
The 50-year-old didn’t want to get into details about his mistakes, but he admitted that he “wasn’t protecting her and protecting those vows.”
“Sometimes when you live that double life, you get caught up,” he said. “I’m not going to say it was her; it was all me.”
Shaq praised Shaunie for taking care of the family.
“She did exactly what she was supposed to do,” he said. “She gave me beautiful kids, take care of the house, take care of corporate stuff. It was just all me. Sometimes when you make a lot of mistakes like that, you can’t really come back from it.”
According to People, Shaunie is now engaged to Keion Henderson, a pastor.
“This love is FOREVER and I’m honored and overjoyed to do forever with him,” the 47-year-old told People in November.
The basketball legend said he’s glad to see his ex-wife in a happy relationship.
“She’s happy now,” he said on the podcast. “She’s about to marry a fine, young gentleman and I’m happy for her.”
The ex-couple have raised four children together: Shareef, 22, Amirah, 20, Shaqir, 19, and Me’arah, 15. Shaunie also has her 24-year-old son Myles from a previous relationship.
