Shaunie O’Neal is the ex-wife of NBA baller Shaquille O’Neal and amid her divorce, she’s been the mastermind of VH1’s hit series “Basketball Wives.”
Shaunie is the mother of five children, but that doesn’t deter her from making big business moves, while juggling the different activities and schedules of five children.
Her empire started with a great idea and now “Basketball Wives” is on it’s third season and is better than ever.
Shaunie isn’t sitting in the shadow of her ex-hubby’s legacy, instead she’s making a great name for herself with her amazing ideas and creative swag.
Check out the exclusive interview below!
GlobalGrind: You’re the person that brought all the “Basketball Wives” ladies together, is it hard to stay out of all of the drama that goes on between the girls?
Shaunie O’Neal: Absolutely. I tell them all the time ‘I know I have short hair but the grays are coming out by the thousands at this point.’ I told them they drive me nuts because I love them to death but them all together is a mess. But each of them is a sweetheart in their own way. But you put them together an amount of time and eventually all hell is going to break loose. I call Tami and Evelyn “Ike and Tina” because they love each other, but they fight like cats and dogs. When they’re on the same page, whoever they’re on the same page with is in serious trouble. I do find it hard because I’m not that person, I have an opinion and I see mess for mess. It’s comical, but at the same time it always ends in a huge mess and I’m sitting there like what did I get myself into?
When you were initially thinking about the ladies you wanted to put in the show did you think that it was going to be a lot of drama, did you not know what to expect?
I didn’t really know what to expect with all the girls. I knew Evelyn has always been the feisty one. She’s just always been that Puerto Rican sassy, feisty girl. We’ve always been friends, so it’s always been like that. I knew she’d make for good TV and I knew that if you needed somebody with an opinion or to tell you how they feel, that’s Evelyn. After that, it was just the trickledown effect of putting more ladies together that actually did have something going on in their personal life, whether it’s their relationship or the party girl, or someone who’s just a straight business woman. Whatever it was, it kind of putting those pieces together, but Evelyn was always my first choice. I came to pitch the show and had Evelyn as one of the cast members from the jump and everybody loved it.
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What was it about Meeka [Claxton] that made you think of her and want to bring her in?
I didn’t reach out to Meeka at all, I didn’t know her. I had never met her or anything. She reached out to the show, she wanted to be on. So after they interviewed her and she said what she was doing and she has a personality, my production team Shed Media met her before I did, I didn’t really meet Meeka until I saw footage of her, they sent me footage of her interview and that was it. I didn’t physically meet her face-to-face until it was time to start taping the show. I did like her interview, I thought that she would be able to bring some relationship with somebody or befriend somebody or kind of fit in a way somewhere.
You’re also the executive producer of “Football Wives” too. Are we going to see another season of that?
Right now, VH1 doesn’t want “Football Wives” back, although I like all the ladies. If I see them now it’s all good, but it just didn’t work out on the production end and it was a lot of off-camera situations that kind of put a damper on the whole thing just going smoothly. Now that we have “Basketball Wives” and we’re on season three, everything is running smooth. The ladies know how this works. We’re going to be tied up for three months at a time taping the show, you got to give it your all and dedicate that time and attention to it. I think that it’s always hard when you start a new show and you have these ladies who are very family oriented; they have their schedules and their rituals as we all do, but it was a lot when they taped that show.
Are you working on any other shows besides Basketball Wives?
I’m pitching other shows absolutely, hoping to one day have a couple spin-offs from “Basketball Wives.” So it’s some other projects, not television oriented that have taken a higher spot on the priority list. But there other shows that I’m still developing and just waiting to do the meetings for those. It’s just fallen back on my maybe third, fourth, or fifth spot on the list as opposed to first or second.
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In your opinion, what do you think is the hardest part about being a basketball wife or a girlfriend in general?
Maybe that would be getting some thick skin real quick because you have people with a whole lot of opinions on who you are, what kind of person you are and don’t know you from Adam. A lot of people that want to be in your spot and will do whatever they need to do to try to break you down and remove you from that spot. So you got to get a lot of thick skin and quickly and if you don’t, you’re in for a lot of hurt feelings and breaking down.
What’s the most difficult part about being a reality TV star? Are there some days you wake up and you’re like ‘I just don’t want to go today’?
Absolutely, there are plenty of days I’m like ‘I don’t want to put on makeup and I don’t want to do my hair. I want to stay in my sweats and t-shirt today.’ Of course, I think it’s like any other job, you definitely have days you do not want to do it. And it may be you just don’t want to be around anybody, I don’t want to talk today, I don’t want to have lunch, I don’t want to shop, I’m just tired. I’m tired of the cameraman, I’m tired of everybody. We do have those days, but we suck it up and we do what we have to do just like any other job and we get it done.
Is there ever a time where you worry about becoming the target of one of the ladies’ backlashes or anger or whatever issue that the girls come up with? Do you ever feel like maybe ‘I’m next’ with the drama?
No, I don’t worry. I stay out of all of that, that’s me, that’s really my personality. Any of the girls will tell you I just don’t get in drama. You’re welcome to share with me your opinion, I’ll listen. If I have an opinion back I’ll give you one. If not, I will listen and let you know ‘Girl, I don’t know. I don’t want any parts of that. That isn’t none of my business.’ I just don’t really entertain too much drama; I just really need my own space. It’s just too many other things. I have kids, a few businesses that I’m trying to do and some he-say she-say; it’s the complete last thing on my list. Even though I’m sitting in the midst of it on a regular, somehow I don’t know, it just may be my personality, I just seem to stay out of it. I might laugh but that’s about it.
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Shaunie O’Neal.
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Shaunie O’Neal.
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Shaunie O’Neal.
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Shaunie O’Neal.
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Shaunie O’Neal.
