Dealing With Backlash, Shaunie Henderson Reveals Husband Keion Drove Her Into Shutting Down Haters With 1 Decision

Success didn’t come easily to Shaunie Henderson, contrary to what people like to assume. While she gained fame as Shaquille O’Neal’s wife and then ex-wife, it was her own hustle to establish herself as a media mogul and entrepreneur. That comes across in her memoir, Undefeated released in May 2024. Yet it almost didn’t. Shaunie nearly gave up on writing her story till she met her now husband, Pastor Keion Henderson. With his encouragement, she was able to be more transparent about her professional success.

Shaunie delved into the backstory of her writing process on the TMI Podcast. When asked about her motivators, Shaunie said, “To be honest? My husband pushed me big time.” Shaunie previously mentioned she was content staying single when she started writing her book in 2018. She briefly gave up and picked it up again. She would’ve met Keion Henderson around that time. They were together for about two years before getting engaged in 2021 and he would be there for the majority of the writing process.

“Because he’s [Keion] like, ‘babe, people need to hear that part. People need to hear what you went through because everybody assumes something else. Everybody assumes you know, you were given this and not understanding that you built this.’ And out of the place that where you were when I built it is really the journey and really the the story that is probably encouraging somebody out there when they read it,” she revealed, referencing all the criticism she’s endured since launching Basketball Wives.

She and Shaq had separated in 2009 with attempts to reconcile in between. In 2010, Basketball Wives premiered, and their divorce was finalized in 2011. As the executive producer of the Vh1 show, she was dragged, as most assumed she was using Shaq and their divorce to stay in the limelight. Through this book, she can say that’s only the surface.

Shaunie goes deeper than what we see

Previously, Shaunie admitted her editors along with Keion had to push her to be more honest in her book. After being guarded since her divorce, she confesses in her book and in subsequent interviews that the show was born out of a necessity to have a post-divorce career. She was also the one who gathered the cast and shopped the concept to networks.

“I’ve grinded to get, you know, to be this this media mogul… it was about survival mode. It was about in my mind, it registered I need I want to have a purpose, I want to have a legacy, and I’m going to succeed period.” Shaunie was a film promoter when she met and dated Shaq. She was a mom and NBA WAG for most of her first marriage. She had to learn the reality TV  business on the fly and made it work too. Now Basketball Wives is in its 11th season with Shaunie at its helm and she’s got more businesses on the side.

“Figuring out that there is hope and there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” after the bleak times was reinvigorating for her. By sharing that story, she hopes it would be the same for others too.