Shaquille O'Neal Files for Divorce from Wife of 5 years

Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal wants to divorce Shaunie, his wife of nearly five years. “The marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken,” says his petition, filed Tuesday by attorney Ira Elegant. It was not immediately clear who is representing Shaunie O'Neal in the case.

Shaq, 35, and Shaunie, 32, wed Dec. 26, 2002, in a lavish ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Shaq, then with the Lakers, gave Shaunie a ring with 17 carats of diamonds.


The Heat did not have an immediate comment, and Shaquille O'Neal did not respond to a request for comment made through the team.

According to the filing, which was first reported by The Miami Herald on its website Tuesday night, Shaquille O'Neal is asking Shaunie O'Neal to provide a "correct accounting of all money, funds, stocks, bonds, and other securities" that she had access to or obtained during the marriage.

The two have a “Cohabitation/Prenuptial Agreement and Acknowledgment of Property Disclosure and Waiver of Further Disclosure,” the petition says. A copy of their agreement “will be filed...under seal” — if the court allows — and “contains extensive provisions providing for confidentiality and non-disclosure.”

In the petition, O’Neal refers to the Star Island mansion as “the former marital home.”

Shaunie, he says, has been “secretive about her assets...particularly with respect to certain properties owned or titled in either her name alone or in other entities.” He wants the court to order Shaunie to give a “correct accounting of all money, funds, stocks, bonds, and other securities (including bearer securities)” that she came into during the marriage.

Shaunie should be “primary residential custodian” of their children — meaning they’d live with her — and he should get “liberal rights of visitation,” he says.

They are the parents of six children; Shaquille and Shaunie O'Neal had four together, and each had one other before their wedding. The kids are Shareef, 7, Amirah, 5, Shaqir, 4, and Me’Arah, 1. Shaq has a daughter, Taahirah, and Shaunie has a son, Myles, from previous relationships.




Shaquille O'Neal makes $20 million a year, with three years left on a five-year contract worth $100 million with the Heat, plus endorsement deals that are estimated to be worth several million more each year. The couple has also listed their home on Miami Beach's posh Star Island for about $32 million, or roughly $13 million more than they paid for it after O'Neal was traded to the Heat by the Los Angeles Lakers before the 2004-05 season.