If you like the NBA, then you will definitely be familiar with the stars in it, and you will definitely be familiar with one name: Shaquille O'Neal.
This man, who was elected as the "NBA 75 Superstar", has a strong physique like a tiger's back and a bear's waist, and has been twice elected NBA scoring champion in his basketball career, and is also recognized as one of the strongest centers in the NBA, and there are countless fans behind him, even after retirement, he has always been "hot".
Compared with many former stars in the NBA who have had a messy life after retirement, O'Neal's retirement transformation can be called successful.
As of 2022, there is grapevine news that the former center has accumulated a wealth of up to $1 billion, and is a proper "winner in life"!
However, compared to the smooth career wind, O'Neill's marriage is quite a bit of a setback.
In November 2009, O'Neill and his ex-wife Shani officially divorced, and the two even went to court because of various disputes, and the scene was not pleasant for a while.
So, what is it like to marry this O'Neill, who weighs up to 400 pounds and is highly sought after by fans?
In fact, O'Neill's ex-wife Shani once confessed to the media that after marriage, her pressure was always great, and in the end, in order to be able to separate from O'Neill, she had to file a divorce lawsuit...
1. A marriage
In China, there has been a popular "most cute height difference", which refers to the huge difference in height and weight between the two parties in love, but gives people a feeling of "cute" and "contrast";
For O'Neill and Shani, the former couple, the "cutest height difference" was once a big "love story" worth showing off.
In fact, when it comes to O'Neill, many people who have followed him must think of his other nickname: "Big Shark".
This is because the tall and burly O'Neill is often fierce and flexible when playing as an interior center, like a "shark" that is difficult to cross, leaving opponents with nowhere to start, and this nickname has spread.
However, contrary to the same figure as the "giant", O'Neill himself is very fond of petite girls:
Whether it only exists in scandals or in many girlfriends who have been admitted by O'Neill, every girl without exception has a height of about one meter six and a beautiful body.
And when these girls stood next to O'Neill, who was nearly 2.2 meters tall and weighed up to 400 pounds, the huge contrast was enough to win everyone's attention.
Perhaps enjoying the feeling of "birds in person", O'Neill has always been in love with the same type of girls. It was under this premise that in 2002, Shani, the host of the local TV sports channel, accidentally walked into O'Neill's sight.
At that time, a reality show called "Basketball Wife" was being planned within the TV station, and Shani went to contact O'Neill as the host.
What no one expected was that just the first time they met, O'Neill "fell in love at first sight" with Shani, who was only about one meter six meters tall and had outstanding appearance, and soon launched a crazy pursuit of her.
For Shani, who is a sports fan herself, she has a good impression of the well-known "big shark" in the NBA.
Therefore, in the face of O'Neill's frequent overtures, Shani was also difficult to refuse, and soon, the two fell in love.
Naturally, Xianni, who has hosted in front of the camera for many years, has her unique charm - she has high emotional intelligence, quick response, and both talents, but also has unflinching confidence and broad conversation;
And O'Neill is tall and majestic, famous, in the eyes of many people, these two are a pair of good couples in addition to being not a good match in figure, so, with the blessing of relatives and friends, in December of the same year, the two entered the palace of marriage hand in hand.
Newlywed Yaner, the pair of lovers with the "cutest height difference" lived sweetly and happily for a while, and O'Neill was captured by the media several times with photos of his wife kissing sweetly on the street, and the two seemed very happy.
However, in order to cooperate with O'Neill's work, soon after getting married, Shani resigned from the position of host and began to devote herself to the backstage, and gave birth to four lively and cute children for O'Neill.
However, for Shani, the life of a housewife caught up in her children has gradually led her marriage to die:
Because O'Neill is a "workaholic", when she was still a professional basketball player, she ran around and was almost not at home all year round, which made Shani often lonely and lonely at home alone, only children accompanied her;
And what makes Shani even more unbearable is the various scandals around O'Neill.
In fact, O'Neill's own personality is somewhat "playboy", coupled with his tall and powerful appearance and superb basketball skills, so that O'Neill has always been surrounded by fans courting.
And O'Neill is even "not refused", and even once cheated when Shani was pregnant with her second child, which made Shani extremely painful and embarrassing.
In order for the child to have a complete family, Shani has always endured all this silently, and even cooperates with O'Neill in front of people, performing a standard loving couple image.
However, for Shanny, such days are very tormenting every day, and years of separation and unverifiable betrayal have always made her suspicious.
And occasionally being questioned by the tabloids about the income gap between her and O'Neill made her psychological pressure gradually climb to the top.
In 2008, because O'Neill also suspected that Shani was having an "affair", the two people who accused each other chose to divorce for the first time.
What is ironic is that due to the contradiction between the two parties in the division of property at the time of divorce, the couple chose to remarry, and this pull continued until 2009, when the two officially announced their divorce in court, and this marriage with a sweet opening finally ended sloppily...
Second, "basketball genes"
However, in addition to marriage, O'Neill's life can be described as smooth, comparable to a "life winner".
Before retiring, O'Neal became one of the top stars in the NBA with his superb skills, and was once known as a well-deserved "interior hegemon", whether it is his assists or blocks, not to be underestimated.
After retiring, O'Neal not only signed with TNT to become a basketball commentator, but also had his own TV show;
In addition, O'Neill also fulfilled his childhood dream, obtained a police license, and even participated in more than twenty movies, both in experience and gain, it can be described as rich.
However, such a "winner in life" with countless brilliances actually did not get a perfect "start in life":
O'Neill was born in 1972 to a family in New Jersey.
In the narration of O'Neill's mother Lucy, O'Neill's biological father Joseph Tony was once a famous local basketball star, with good skills and a group of loyal fans, and Lucy was one of them.
However, perhaps it was the popularity of the people that made Joseph gradually lose his clear head, and when Lucy was pregnant with O'Neill, Joseph secretly became addicted to drugs behind his wife's back, and thus embarked on the road of crime.
In this way, when O'Neill was only 9 months old, Joseph was imprisoned for his crime.
After learning of this, Lucy decisively divorced, she took O'Neill back to her mother's life, and under the introduction of relatives and friends, met her second husband: Philip Harrison.
In contrast to the absurdity of his biological father, Philip Harrison was a soldier with great integrity and enthusiasm.
After marrying Lucy, Philip regarded O'Neill as his own, whether it was education or companionship, Philip was very attentive to O'Neill, and the little O'Neill also felt a vigorous and rich father's love.
As O'Neill grew up day by day, Philip always tried his best to provide O'Neill with the best education.
Due to the basketball genes of his biological father Joseph, O'Neill is not only much taller than children of the same age, but also has an unusually strong interest in basketball.
Soon, Philip took the initiative to discover O'Neill's basketball talent. After some discussion with Lucy, the couple planned a series of basketball training sessions for O'Neill.
Among them, Philip not only plays the role of sparring, but also the supervisor of O'Neill's plan.
For children, repeatedly sticking to a project is obviously boring, and O'Neill has inevitably cried and refused basketball-related training.
However, whenever O'Neill wanted to give up, Philip would slowly comfort him, unravel him, and tell him in a serious voice:
"You have the talent of basketball, as long as you keep working hard now, you will definitely become a very good basketball player in the future, and you can join the NBA or ABA of your dreams to play."
So, what you need to do now is not to give up! ”
Under Philip's explanation and supervision, O'Neill's basketball performance improved by leaps and bounds, and eventually became an outstanding basketball player on the local junior basketball team.
Watching his son sweat on the court, Philip often cheers for his son while helping O'Neill sum up the mistakes on the court, go home and review with him, looking for a better breakthrough.
Perhaps, everything has long been predestined. When O'Neill was 13 years old, due to the change of defense of Philip's army, the family temporarily moved to Germany with Philip;
In the same year, the basketball coach of the University of St. Louisiana went to the US military base in Germany to give a speech, and he saw O'Neal sitting with his father in the crowd at a glance, and felt that he was a good seedling for basketball.
Therefore, he specially ran to persuade Philip, hoping that O'Neill could be admitted to the University of St. Louisiana for training in the future.
Such an invitation pointed out a new bright path for O'Neill, who was still a teenager.
In 1990, 18-year-old O'Neill was admitted to the University of St. Louisiana's Department of Business and joined the varsity basketball team, starting his basketball career
Third, multiple harvests
In 1992, O'Neal graduated from college and entered the NBA draft on the advice of his coach. At first, O'Neal didn't have much confidence, but just after the first-round draft, O'Neal was accepted by the Orlando Magic with an outstanding result of "top pick", which began his career in the NBA.
Now, looking back at O'Neal's NBA journey, he seems to deserve all the praise -
After joining the Magic, O'Neal has won six top world basketball honors such as World Championship MVP, Regular Season MVP, All-Star Game MVP, and Finals MVP, and soon became the backbone of the Lakers after transferring to the Lakers, single-handedly creating three "three records" that are difficult for others to reach: three NBA championships, three Finals MVPs and three All-Star MVP records;
In addition, O'Neal joined the Heat, Cavaliers, Suns and Celtics, all of which achieved good results until he retired in 2011 due to a serious Achilles tendon injury, which ended his basketball career.
In the mouths of many basketball commentators, O'Neal has a "great career" and "the most funny player of all time", and is also "the most talented big man" and "the most eye-catching 'big diesel'";
With his skills, he has impressed countless people, and even his former rival and partner Kobe Bryant praised him for "bringing historic significance to Los Angeles" and "will always be remembered by Lakers fans."
It is worth mentioning that a long time ago, there was a conflict between O'Neill and Yao Ming:
It was when Yao Ming first entered the NBA, and because his English pronunciation was not fluent, O'Neal deliberately laughed at Yao's confusing pronunciation in Chinese and English.
What he didn't expect was that the matter somehow reached the ears of his stepfather Philip, who quickly called angrily, reprimanded O'Neill for his excesses and asked him to apologize to Yao.
Not only that, but shortly after the 2003 All-Star Weekend, Philip also made a special trip to apologize to Yao's father and admit that he had not been good at teaching his son.
Philip's behavior greatly infected O'Neal, who not only admitted his mistake to Yao Ming in person, but also maintained a good relationship with Yao Ming for a long time after that, and the friendship between the two became a good story in the NBA.
In June 2011, O'Neill published a video of his impending retirement on online media.
As soon as the news came out, countless fans lamented it, and many people even red-eyed, this period with O'Neill's basketball youth, finally came to an end...
In April 2013, during the Lakers game against the Mavericks, they also held a "jersey retirement" ceremony for O'Neal on the court.
This is the best interpretation of whether a player is great in the NBA, and O'Neal has been so recognized with his years of achievements, which is well deserved!
After retiring, O'Neill didn't stop there. Police, host, music, all areas of interest, O'Neill tried his best and made many good results;
Especially in front of the camera, perhaps with a natural sense of humor, O'Neill often only needs a few funny expressions and movements to make the audience laugh, and he is still attracted the attention and love of countless people after retiring, and the popularity of fans for him has only increased.
In addition, O'Neill also has a unique investment approach.
He has served as the spokesperson for many well-known big brands, such as Reebok, Li Ning, Oreo Biscuits, etc., and a few years ago, O'Neill also unintentionally bought a little Google stock;
With the passage of time, Google's stock price has risen, and the wealth in O'Neill's hands has doubled again and again, and in the rumors, O'Neill now has billions of dollars in huge assets in his hands, and he is a veritable rich man!
Fourth, what is the future?
After retiring from the NBA, O'Neal's figure has also become stronger. Due to his tall size, O'Neill's weight soared to more than 400 pounds early, but his aesthetic has never changed.
After divorcing Shani, O'Neill's girlfriend changed more frequently.
In 2021, the media filmed him swimming with a black woman on the beach, and the two looked sweet and loving, which also made the media and fans can't help but speculate whether O'Neill is "good things near"?
However, speculation is ultimately a guess. To this day, O'Neill still hasn't married again, and the beauties around him have changed wave after wave.
According to rumors, O'Neill has recently begun to like Asian women again, perhaps because of his pursuit of petite women in his bones!
In fact, Westerners are significantly more liberal in their attitudes towards love and marriage than in Asia.
And for a successful person like O'Neill who has a wealth in his hands, his partner is more like a passerby in life, just like the same famous "little plum", and the girlfriend around him is also constantly changing, which is dizzying.
Perhaps, O'Neill's emotional road still has a long way to go, but perhaps for O'Neill, emotions and marriage are not "necessities" in life, whether he will marry again, and which wife he will choose to die with, can only depend on his personal choice...