“My Feet Look Like Charles Barkley’s Face”: Shaquille O’Neal Defends Dropping $1000 On Pedicures

Shaquille O’Neal’s big heart often loosens up his purse strings. The 2000 NBA MVP previously revealed that he doles out as much as $1,000 on treating his feet. While pedicures typically don’t cost that much—even for someone with 22-size feet—Shaq willingly pays a premium out of a sense of guilt, treating the workers who tend to his famously large feet to an oversized tip.

The four-time NBA champion was on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ when he was asked about the exorbitant cost of his pedicures. Shaq explained that he pays $1,000 “Because I feel sorry for the lady that’s doing my feet… My feet looks like Charles Barkley’s face.”

There is some truth O’Neal’s statement. The long term effects of professional basketball involve some deformative conditions like flat feet, bunions, and hammer toes. And foot/ankle injuries account for over 20% of all injuries in the NBA.

After all, NBA players are constantly crashing down on their feet and changing directions with their entire body weight. It doesn’t help that most shoes are narrow in the toe box either. With repeated exposure, athletes make their feet vulnerable to a variety of unaesthetic ailments.

It’s likely a combination of these that’s got Shaq’s toes looking like the Round Mound of Rebound. The 15-time All-Star had big issues with his right toe in particular, which he had to get surgery for in 2002.

He also shared the story of how he began taking care of his feet. Like many of his habits, the credit here goes to Shaq’s mother, Lucille O’Neal. Lucille once painted her son’s feet before a game, and he went on to score forty points. That fed into the Big Aristotle’s superstition and he carried the tradition forward for good luck.