- yesterday
The TV producer gets honest about her evolving identity, reality TV’s growing pains, and the unexpected challenges of stepping into ministry.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00so i see comments and people say all the time like oh this is not very first lady that she
00:06you know executive produces this show i was that before this right and i don't know
00:13if people just expect me to say you know what you keep that uh credit i have you keep that
00:21check that i get keep it because i'm now a first lady that's just not how life works now do i sit
00:27in the editing room do i sit with these ladies and come up with their storylines absolutely not
00:33you know um as long as basketball wives is on air i'm going to be attached to it no matter what
00:40i created it i executive produce it it is what it is i am a married woman i'm chewing on about 30
00:49carats chump chump there were stories coming out about christian being a scammer but she got married
00:54to this fool she's dumb as oh my god now that my daughter chantelle is here hopefully we'll get to
01:05spend a lot more time together we have to have boundaries and if we don't i'm out of here i don't
01:10get a key what being muslim was never on my bingo card but i come in peace till i don't i want to hear
01:18her next now i am ing lee i'm ty young i never was trying to be with nobody else your phone record
01:25says differently who is shonda in my phone it's go time hello my name is oaklett jones i am the
01:32senior entertainment editor with essence magazine and today i am speaking with the amazing shawnee
01:37henderson how you doing today shawnee i'm doing wonderful how about you i'm good i'm good thank you
01:42so much for asking season 12 of basketball wives is in the books which is an amazing accomplishment
01:48uh what originally inspired you to create the show and did you ever imagine it would reach this
01:52magnitude well um sitting in those arenas back when i was a basketball wife and people just asking you
02:00know like what do you guys do do you hang out y'all what do y'all shop y'all you know get your kids
02:04together and i would see the kardashians on television you know literally just following
02:11their lives i was like you know what there are some amazing women in this space there there are some
02:18entertaining women in this space and i think we can do this crazy part about it is i had no intention
02:24of myself being one of them i just wanted to i just wanted to do the idea and figure out how to get
02:30it on television and never wanted to be on but um here we are and no way did i ever you know i i guess
02:40i just had this idea i didn't know where it would go i didn't know how it would be i don't know if it
02:45would be successful or not but to be 12 seasons in and us doing this since 2010 i think it was
02:55it's crazy you know we've we've grown up on television pretty much in our adulthood portion
03:02you know um so it's been an amazing ride so i wanted to ask you too there are a lot of uh
03:08reality tv shows in the space now how do you think the reality tv show genre has shifted since when you
03:15started tonight i wish your opinion on it currently um i feel like when we first started it was more
03:21reality right like it was real and maybe because we didn't know what we were doing you know we
03:28really were shooting real life stuff you know what was if it was nothing happening in our lives it was
03:36we were sitting around the pool talking you know and and it was it was more pure i think that reality
03:45tv has become more more kind of scripted now um it's harder now what what people don't realize is
03:53the longer you do it the harder it gets because now your reality is on tv so much that to an audience
04:02it can become boring you know like maybe my reality is for the next three months my kid is in
04:08basketball you know basketball camps for the summer and that's all i'm doing is that i'm
04:15not hanging with the women i'm not i don't have that kind of time but for television purposes i now
04:21have to jump into a group of women who i really don't care what's going on in their life i don't
04:27have time to care but i have to care for the sake of a camera so then it becomes not so authentic not so
04:34or organic because i'm jumping into folks business for the sake of tv that i really would never jump
04:41into so you spoke about being a uh basketball wife and now you're the first lady of lighthouse church
04:48um so you literally went from the court side to the front pew which is a powerful transition
04:53when you look at your journey what is the phrase going from court side to the front pew mean to you
04:58wow um i think i was so disconnected from the court side for so long you know before i got to this this
05:06first pew um that it was no connection for me like i have been disconnected from basketball and that
05:15court side space for i don't know what is this 20 i got married in 2022 i got divorced in 2010 you know
05:24what i mean so 12 years is is is a long time um and i just i i was so disconnected so there was no
05:35connection whatsoever now i grew up in church people don't seem to believe that but i grew up in church
05:41so church isn't a foreign place to me now being a first lady of course is that's that's that's a lot
05:48of responsibility that's a lot of expectations a lot of responsibility but um you know i i'm at a place
05:57in my life where it just fit it was it was god's timing it was perfect timing um i'm i'm at this place
06:08in my life where this is so right for me you know what i mean it's just it's a part of my purpose
06:16and i don't think i knew it was until you know i i was placed in this in this space so early in the
06:23conversation you spoke about you know before you created basketball wives you didn't really see
06:27yourself on camera but you know now you're shaunny henderson everybody knows you you know um how do
06:33you think your perspective on fame and visibility changed since becoming the first lady lighthouse church
06:39i never loved it in the first place you know what i mean like i being married to my ex
06:46you know he's he's who he is we couldn't go anywhere without people following and and running
06:54and going crazy so i was always trying to like protect me and the kids so like he would go one
07:00way we would go another just to avoid all the craziness so then when it was kind of my turn
07:06i literally don't own it to be honest even right now people would be like so you you just walking
07:13in the mall or you just and i'm like yeah like i don't own this celebrity space and i think it's my
07:19own denial i don't claim that title i don't um i just i don't know i i've never wanted that i've never
07:29wanted the fame i'd rather be behind the camera do the business side be a business woman collect my
07:36checks in in in my own space in quiet you know and in silence um without the fame i i see a lot of fame
07:44um people just get attached to it and addicted to it and i don't ever want that for myself so
07:52i can't say you know i do know people know who i am and i i own that and i love you know i love on
07:59people and appreciate it and i do not take it lightly that you know this is what has made this show
08:07successful and continues to make me successful but that celebrity part i don't think i really own it
08:13maybe i live in my own little denial about it now you also talked about the responsibility that comes
08:20with being the first lady too um and you're such a uh entertainment mogul as well too how do you
08:26balance your role in entertainment with your responsibilities in ministry i i think that you
08:34know i wish i could make people understand how this works right i am so i've disconnected myself
08:39physically from the show for the most part you know i might do pop-ups when it when it makes sense but
08:45for the most part i'm not even there on a day-to-day um i wish sometimes you know when i get the edits
08:53after it's done that i could go back and be like y'all sure y'all want to talk about this or
08:58can we rethink that you know but these this is a decision no one is
09:03you know uh captured and drug into this space to film or say or do anything it's all a decision so
09:13everything that these ladies talk about everything that they do everything that they share is a
09:18decision on their part and we're here to capture it unfortunately it's not always pretty unfortunately
09:26i personally am not always proud of what it is but i can't do anything about what joe schmo's
09:34storyline and what she decides to share with the world that's that's not on me so from the inside
09:41looking out uh in your opinion what do you think is so captivating about basketball wise because again
09:47they have millions of fans and it's just people keep watching what is it do you think resonates
09:53most with audiences i think the fact that we've been on so long and people feel like they know us
09:59you know they feel like we're we're auntie or sister or whatever people really have attached
10:05themselves to us because of the longevity um and let's just be honest it's some good tv some of these
10:14ladies are just good to you jackie christie i don't care what is going on it's good tv she either
10:20really gets on people's nerves or people really love her and or the combo like like it's a combination
10:28and you can't stop watching her evelyn you hate her or you love her you know what i mean but at the
10:34end of the day for for these two ladies know how to shoot reality tv it is a science to doing reality tv
10:43and to be good at it you know like the nene leaks the phaedra parks the and i um porsches like people
10:51like that evelyn jackie they know how to shoot reality tv they know how to chime in the conversations
10:58that they probably in real life don't care about but know how to say things know how to have
11:03conversations with people that just make great television and when that camera turns off they
11:09know how to turn it off you know some things trickle over but even then i think it's like
11:14just a science of knowing how to keep this type of television entertaining and make people gravitate
11:23to caring because people get so invested you know sometimes in the worst way but they know how to do
11:30this and they they've mastered it i actually i wanted to make a really really quick shift because i think
11:35this is important to be highlighted too like you know as outside of all your um you're a multi-hyphenage
11:41author you're also an author as well too um your your book undefeated came out last year um you know
11:47being living the life that you have and and and being so involved in different things what uh part of
11:53writing that book felt the most healing for you honestly i think the part about losing my dad i i didn't
12:02realize that i didn't mourn my losing my father until i wrote that book and honestly i wrote the
12:12book and then was going through some some stuff about you know you just it gives it becomes scary
12:19when it's time for the book to come out right it's like did i share too much did i share too much of my
12:24my journey that then exposes other people's journey and and so i i just had a scary moment
12:31and i remember talking to my husband about these emotions that i was just feeling about my dad's
12:38passing all of a sudden now my dad passed in 2022 and you know the book came out last year so i was like
12:45why am i feeling this and i just realized i never stopped i never stopped to just mourn and take in that
12:54i had lost my dad i kept going my dad passed in march and we got married in may and it was like
13:02life was just lifing and i and i never stopped and and so i think that was the most healing to
13:08recognize that i hadn't stopped and just real or mourned my father and not to say that that ever
13:18stops i don't know that i ever will stop but just recognizing that i needed to i needed to
13:24just take a minute and realize what was happening the void that was missing all the things and just
13:31feel it and feel it so so that was healing for me after the fact if that makes sense yeah i just think
13:39that's really interesting to you saying does it ever stop i lost my father in 1996 and i'm still dealing
13:45with some stuff today you know in therapy so yeah but i think that's that's that's beautiful that you were
13:51able to find some type of of healing enclosure with that um earlier in the conversation you also said
13:58something that struck me as well too about some the things that people say online about you know
14:03balancing your ministry and then you know the entertainment aspect of your career um if you can
14:09i guess pinpoint one thing what do you think the most surprising thing was about stepping into the role of
14:14the first lady alongside your husband is there anything that surprised you or took you off guard
14:20honestly if i'm gonna be keep it 100 it's the lack of community of first ladies wow
14:30i i i was actually there's like it's almost like basketball wise it's a little clicky you know like
14:42i know i'm gonna get some slack for that one but it's the truth i i and i shouldn't have been i'm not
14:48surprised let me say this i'm not surprised because women women are women right and we do our best we
14:54are all flawed in our own ways and and we're human um but you know how for a church community you have
15:04these expectations and and we're all guilty of you have these expectations of things are just better
15:10you know and there's more love there's more acceptance there's more this and that
15:15and so i guess my expectations of that was was a little more and i also realized that i am not
15:23the typical first lady so i think people might be a little leery of getting of gravitating to me because
15:32of the entertainment side and i might be a little too worldly or i might be a little too
15:37too too to a little too on that side for optics i don't know i really don't care to get the detail
15:47why but it's not as it's not as um as lovey-dovey community based as now there are some genuine first
15:57ladies that i just absolutely love ride or die for but there are others that are just like you know not
16:04not really welcoming warm and fuzzy
16:09what do you hope people take away from your life story you know um both in your careers what is your
16:15personal life you know is there something you hope people can learn from the things that you've been
16:20through in your experiences i always hope that i could you know share my experience with somebody that
16:29they don't have to make some of the mistakes that i made that they can know that it'll get greater
16:35later um that all of the the pain all of the trials and tribulations and all that is literally shaping
16:45you for your purpose um it doesn't make sense when it's happening so questioning it is a waste of time
16:52even though you're gonna do that anyway but it will make so much sense later and just shape you into
16:59the person that you are supposed to be and the purpose that god has for you and again it doesn't make
17:04sense on the journey most of the time but it it will and you will never stop reinventing yourself you
17:14would never you have to realize you always have to keep reintroducing yourself to yourself as you get older
17:20because you will change you will you know have new ideas and new uh i don't know boundaries so i think
17:29that it's important to stay just very self-aware that is something that i'm super intentional about
17:38is being very very self-aware as i get older that wasn't something that i was um you know paying attention
17:45to before but i try to be very self-aware and intentional about life so that is more so sharing
17:53that than anything um and i hope that people can learn from my experiences i'm no expert in anything
18:00but i have plenty of experiences so as the season finale of basketball wives approaches uh what message
18:07do you have for the long time fans who've grown with the show throughout the years
18:11um my message is thank you uh thank you for sticking with us through the ups the downs the good the bad
18:19the ugly you know like i said there are people that stay so invested and have their own opinions and
18:26perspectives of who we are all while really not knowing any of us you know like really not not knowing
18:34who we genuinely are and sometimes i wish that i we could just take a moment and our fans get to know us
18:39in real life you know and not just that few minutes on tv for for a year the increments and in over the
18:47years but um i think i think every single one of our fans for for just sticking with this this has been
18:54a long long ride we're still going and it's still getting crazy i still sit back and hide under the desk
19:03when it airs some days because i'm just like lord this is just bad i wish it had some context i wish i could
19:09explain but it's not my story to tell you know um these ladies like i said they they volunteer for
19:16this they sign up for this so anything y'all see i know shawnee gets blamed 99 of the time
19:27why would she let this happen why does she this that and the other shawnee has nothing to do with what
19:33these ladies decide to share with the world and as much as i would love to um you know edit and alter
19:42that's their story to tell and that's the decision they made and you know i'm gonna support each and
19:47every one of them through it all but uh the fans have been everything you know uh we wouldn't be here
19:54without them so thank you well shawnee i want to thank you for this conversation as well so i really really
20:01appreciate you and i really look forward to everything that you do uh in the future as
20:06well because you've done so much thus far so thank you so much thank you for this it was great
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