Shaquille and Shaunie separated after five years of marriage back in 2007 but reconciled shortly after. On November 10, 2009, Shaunie filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences”. The divorce was finalized in 2011.

Shaquille O’Neal is opening up like never before to discuss that divorce. The 50-year-old appeared on “The Pivot Podcast” and laid the blame for his split from his ex-wife, Shaunie, at his own feet.

“I was bad. She was awesome,” he admitted.

“It was all me. We don’t need to talk about what I was doing, but I wasn’t protecting her and protecting those vows. Sometimes you live that double-life and get caught up. I’m not going to say it was her. It was all me.”

“She did exactly what she was supposed to do,” the NBA Hall of Famer continued. “Take care of the kids. Take care of the house. Take care of corporate stuff. It was just all me.

Shaq’s rare moment of vulnerability offered fans a deeper look into the man behind the legend — not the dominant force on the court, but the flawed husband off of it. While many athletes dodge accountability in the public eye, Shaq faced his past head-on, owning up to mistakes that cost him his marriage. With raw honesty, he painted a picture of regret, not bitterness. “You don’t know how good you got it until it’s gone,” he said, his voice tinged with reflection. It wasn’t a tabloid confession — it was a grown man reckoning with the consequences of his own actions.

“Sometimes when you make a lot of mistakes like that, you can’t really come back from that. But as I get older and you dwell on situations, it was all me.”

Shaq was also very candid about what he lost.

“The best feeling for me was coming home and hearing 5-6 different voices,” he said. “Don’t matter if I miss 15 free throws and we lost. They don’t care about that.”

He said he was just being “greedy.”

“I had the perfect situation,” he said. “Wife was finer than a mug. Kept giving me babies. Still finer than a mug. I had it all. I don’t make excuses. I know I messed up. When that d-word happened — I don’t like to use that word — I was lost. 76,000 square foot house by yourself. Lost. No kids. Go to the gym. Nobody’s playing. You go to their room, nobody’s there.”

The 47-year-old Shaunie is an executive producer of VH1’s “Basketball Wives” series.

The former couple had four kids together, and each has another from previous relationships.