After a heartbreaking divorce from Shaquille O’Neal, Shaunie Henderson decided to explore her new life and the opportunities it has to offer. From raising her kids as a single parent to a new business, life was one big task for the 49-year-old. Now, almost after a decade, the first lady of the church finally opened up about the hardships and life lessons that shaped the Shaunie she is now in her new memoir.

The doting mother of five shared one piece of advice that helped her make the most important decision of her life which was her marriage to Pastor Keion Henderson. She stated that the way her father treated her influenced her thoughts and helped her decide that Pastor Keion was the perfect person for her. She said that her husband treated her with love and showed affection and respect to her.

“My father was fun, attentive, and loving to a fault, and he always treated me with affection and respect. That became what I believed I deserved from a man, and that’s how I knew Keion was the right man for me,” Shaunie detailed in Undefeated, Changing the Rules and Winning on My Own Terms.

She further added, “I don’t believe I would be with Keion today if my father hadn’t shown me that a man could treat me like I was precious-with love, thoughtfulness, and respect.”

Shaunie further stated that she has always cherished the respect she received from her father. While every woman deserves profound love and admiration, Shaunie credits her father for instilling in her the wisdom to recognize her own worth.

Following her split with the Los Angeles Lakers legend, she found this sense of love and respect once again in her relationship with Henderson. After dating for a while, the two tied the knot in May 2022 in Anguilla. All the O’Neal kids showed their support for her mother’s decision.

Shaunie Henderson wants her daughters to learn one thing from her 

This is also one of the lessons that she wants her daughters to learn from her. Shaunie’s book details her upbringing and the life lessons she learned from her parents. One of those is what she learned from her father. “However, if there’s one important lesson from my upbringing that I’ve tried to pass on to my daughters, it’s how a woman should expect to be treated by a man,” Shaunie wrote in her memoir.

However, in her book, Shaunie detailed that her father wasn’t loyal to his wife. Although her mother chose to remain in the marriage, Shaunie broke away from this pattern. She decided to end her relationship with O’Neal after discovering her husband’s infidelity. O’Neal’s infidelity and his divorce made headlines in 2011.

Since then, the Los Angeles Lakers legend and Shaunie have co-parented their kids. While the 49-year-old producer and the first lady has her book and advice to guide and encourage her kids, O’Neal also does the same in his own unique way.