Shaunie admits to having received over $50,000 from Shaquille O'Neal, but vehemently denies any alimony claims

The end of Shaquille O'Neal's marriage to Shaunie was a very public affair. Between the divorce, the reconciliation, and the divorce again, Shaq's NBA and business fortunes were a big topic in the media. After all, Michael Jordan's divorce from Juanita Vanoy was one of the most expensive celebrity divorces in history. There was speculation whether Shaq would have a similar statistic. However, when Shaq and Shaunie finalized their divorce in 2011, he got off relatively cheap and most of his empire remained intact. In her memoir, Undefeated, Shaunie confirmed that she wanted it that way. And when conflicting reports emerged, she set the record straight.

In her book, Shaunie said she told Shaq she didn't want anything. However, during her appearance on Dear Future Wifey, she was informed of claims that she received over $50,000 from Shaq during their split. Not only did she deny the rumor, she even denied the figure. “First of all, I don't know where that came from, I didn't get alimony. I got child support.”

It was referring to what she wrote in her memoir. “Despite the advice of my lawyers, I didn't want anything from Shaquille. I just wanted out.” She admitted that a guilt-ridden Shaq would not have agreed to not provide for the mother of his children. “I kept telling him, 'You don't have to give me anything, just take care of the kids.' Of course, he was legally obligated to take financial responsibility for the children, which he did, but other than that, all I wanted was my car registered in my name. The only other thing I wanted was peace of mind. I craved that. I just wanted to live honestly and without lies or self-deception.”

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Reports from 2011 showed that Shaq was paying at least $10,000 per child in child support. However, on Dear Future Wifey, she said, “It wasn't $50,000, it was more than that.” Shaunie didn't let the audience believe that Shaq had abandoned her.

In her book, she mentions that during the divorce proceedings, she moved from Miami to LA, where her parents lived. She had saved her “pocket money” from Shaq, but it wasn't enough to support her and her five children in Los Angeles. They came to an agreement with child support. She reportedly got three of his houses, worth a total of $33.4 million.

Shaunie condemns the “lies”

Shaunie couldn't understand where the $50,000 amount came from. Some reports claim it was $10,000 for each of her five children, while others say it was an additional $50,000 for herself. She has sometimes been slandered for accepting Shaq's money as spousal support despite her successful reality show. Some social media users speculate that she backed out of the “alimony” payments when she remarried Keion Henderson in 2022. Shaunie called it all a “blatant lie” and even doubted that she could provide the receipts to dispute these false claims.

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Throughout her book and press tour, she has stressed that she never accepted anything from Shaq that wasn't for the kids. She put her savings into producing Basketball Wives, which gave her a career she didn't have in the NBA. In the same book, she says that he was raised as a breadwinner and she has no problem relying on him for all of her children's needs.

The speculation surrounding her ten-year-old divorce has no bearing on her co-parenting relationship with Shaq. However, she is not afraid to dispel these rumors about their cohabitation.

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Stay tuned for more updates like this and watch this video to hear what Shaq's former agent Leonard Armato has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark's Olympic rejection and more.