Royce Reed is on a revelation spree not limited to her ex-partner, Dwight Howard. She’s spilling on her past connection to Shaquille O’Neal, especially through her former friendship with his ex-wife. Shaunie Henderson was Reed’s sister figure and colleague on Basketball Wives till Reed’s abrupt exit. This time, the former reality star is revealing how it all started.

Back in 2009, Shaquille O’Neal and his then-wife, Shaunie, had a short-lived reality series, Love Shaq. Shaunie was working on launching herself as a media mogul simultaneously. But she couldn’t fully commit to her next project, Basketball Wives, while Love Shaq was on.

Royce Reed reveals Shaunie Henderson’s early priority

Royce Reed, who went on to star on Basketball Wives fresh out of her relationship with Dwight Howard, said on VladTV that Shaunie got her on board to shop the show to networks. “Shaunie reached out to me and was like, ‘Hey I have this guy Tom Huffman (Basketball Wives creator), he’s trying to put together a show and he’s asking if I know anybody that would want to be a part of it.'” 

Shaunie couldn’t do it herself while appearing on Love Shaq. That was a bonus for Reed, who became the face of the pitch. “I can’t really do it because I’m doing the show with my husband,” Shaunie told Reed as per the former cheerleader.

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The showrunner had Reed, “shooting a sizzle, that was terrible.” Yet the sizzle reel did the job. Among the dozens of networks they pitched to, Reed’s showreel got about eight positive responses.

Shaunie was instead involved in recruiting other castmates as per Reed. She didn’t know who was cast before or after her, but she stated she was directly communicating with Shaunie the most. This dynamic would continue till Reed’s exit from the show. Before VladTV, Reed was on Carlos King’s show where she talked about her fallout with Shaunie and the cast of Basketball Wives.

Royce Reed’s claim about the fallout forced Shaquille O’Neal to chime in

The 43-year-old said that Shaq was sending her flirtatious texts back then. Reed promptly told Shaunie to clear the air between them. Reed would express feeling betrayed when Shaunie turned it into a scene on Basketball Wives having the rest of the ladies led by Evelyn Lozada corner her.

O’Neal chanced upon the clip and posted a cryptic response to Reed. “uh somebody needs money,” he wrote. Fans were quick to note he didn’t exactly deny the allegations.

Meanwhile, Reed was disenchanted with the show after the unaired ambush. She left the cast ahead of season four. Back then she tweeted, it was due to “artistic differences.” She further stated, “Never sell your soul! Respect is hard 2 come by!” She may be referring to Shaunie turning that incident into an opportunity. An abrupt end to what started with Royce Reed’s sizzle reel.

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