Pastor Keion Henderson admits he wanted to attack son Shaquille O’Neal over his bold request to mom Shaunie

One of probably the most controversial points of being a stepparent is the challenge of disciplining your spouse’s children. Keion Henderson, who married Shaunie Henderson, Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-wife, in 2022, faced this dilemma after she brought five children into the wedding, 4 of whom were over 18 on the time, with Me’arah the youngest. being 16 years old.

While co-parenting with Shaunie’s ex-husband, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, Keion had to define his role as a parent, often biting his tongue and remaining calm, especially with his sons.

On the November 27 episode of “The GrOOwZone Podcast,” co-hosted by Keion and Shaunie, the pair delved into the challenges of parenting adult children.

Shaunie reflected on her own parenting style and confessed that she struggled with the instinct to “fix everything” for her children.

“I had to get to the point where I had to stop trying to fix everything for them. Because here I am, now you know, with a 22-year-old,” she said. “They’ll still call and say, ‘Mom, can you make an appointment for me at the dentist?’ because I was that parent who just did everything, so I’m not equipping them with the tools they need to just become independent adults.”

Keion, who’s the leader of Lighthouse Church and Ministries in Houston, shared his frustration at a recent family dinner when Shaunie’s son asked her to order food.

“We sit down on the table and Shakir is 21… 20… he’s 20… this man looks at you across the table and says, ‘Mom, are you able to order my food?’ and I feel to myself: I wish she would do this. You bet you didn’t order food for this grown man and also you didn’t.

Shaqir was adamant that somebody would do it for him and turned to his younger sister Me’arah to order a meal.

In the 39-minute video, the preacher shared: “Do you realize what he did? He checked out his younger sister, who’s 17, and told her to order it.

Keion added: “I wanted to push him out of that chair and step on his ankle. Why, at the age of 20, do we shamelessly ask our mother to order food for us?”

This exchange highlights how Keion and Shaunie balance their roles with humor, patience, and understanding of their mixed family dynamics.

He talked about how he achieved this dynamic in a blended family on Jamal Bryant’s podcast “Let’s Talk About It.”

He said, “Man, this is so satisfying for me.”

Adding: “Despite what any blogger or media person will inform you, me and Shaquille O’Neal have never had an issue. Every encounter I had with this man was positive and involved his children.

He then stated that he knew his “place”.

“These are his children,” he said firmly. “So he has the right of first refusal to refuse. These are his children. I never interfered with his children’s lives, trying to be their father. What I told each of them individually is about who I am meant to be. They don’t need a father. They have that right, so there is a support system.”

Instead, he said that as a stepfather, he likes a friend they’ll “bounce” off of.

“There is no competition in space because he won every time. He was there from biology to today,” Keion said.

The pastor then told how she attended Me’arah on her last day of senior 12 months, and even when she announced what college she can be attending, although he supported Shaunie in planning the ceremony, he and the previous All-Star never argued, despite this , as reported by the media. suggested.

“He even came to me and said, hey, if you want me to speak up about his daughter, so as long as we’re adults, we let the kids use the Internet,” he said.

This wasn’t the one time Keion spoke about it to the general public. On one occasion he even had to talk to his congregation about blended families.

He clarified what he said by noting, “The point of the lesson is that when you combine family and blend family, always remember that the seeds will survive the mixture. What this child came from will not be destroyed because you have united the family. If they come from trauma, it’s in the mix.”

He further stated that he has an “amazing” relationship with his wife’s children, claiming that as a person he has never “had a problem, in a side word, a ‘that’s not my daddy’ problem.” We have not had a single moment like this within the history of our relationship.

Perhaps the rationale for that is that whether the preacher likes the way in which Shauna is parenting or not, he stays on his “path” and knows his “place.”