The fame and popularity that has surrounded Shaquille O’Neal since his time in the league hasn’t taken much of a dip to this day. The Los Angeles Lakers legend is still one of the most-viewed NBA analysts around the country and also has a massive fan following on social media. So, it was inevitable for his children to be born into stardom. But not Shaquille O’Neal’s eldest daughter, Taahirah O’Neal.
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Recently, the 27-year-old daughter of the Hall of Famer made an appearance on the Do I Know You? Podcast with Jordan Ray Davis, better known as Jordierae. In her time there, Taahirah O’Neal spoke about how she was raised away from all her siblings.
“My siblings and I, we have different mothers. So, we were raised similarly but differently. Like, I said, my mother is a mental health professional. I wasn’t exposed to everything I’m allowing myself to be exposed to now until I was probably 17 or 18.”
Taahirah was referring to the constant spotlight her siblings had to grow up under, given that they lived with Shaq and Shaunie. But Taahirah was sent to the suburbs of Sugar Land, a city southwest of Houston, Texas. After all, while Shaquille O’Neal is her father of Taahirah, she is also the daughter of Arnetta Yardbourgh.
Growing up in the Suburbs of Texas, Taahirah had a different lifestyle growing up as compared to her brothers and sisters. She even touched upon the lives of her siblings who lived with their father in Los Angeles. She mentioned how thankful she was that she did not have to endure the LA buzz and the constant paparazzi as well.
Taahirah also revealed one of her recent conversations with her brother, Shareef O’Neal. She wanted to know how it was moving from one city to another whenever their father switched teams and how much they had to travel with him constantly. Shareef jokingly admitted he was still tired from all the traveling they did about 12-13 years ago when their father was last playing in the league.
A manhunt to find the mother of Shaquille O’Neal’s first child
Shaquille O’Neal’s relationship with Arnetta Yardbourgh ended in 1996, the same year Taahirah O’Neal was born. And even though Shaq and Arentta had parted ways, the media did not stop from digging deeper into his personal life. During that time, the LSU product was still playing for the Orlando Magic.
In 1996, a manhunt of sorts took place in an attempt to find out more about the mother of Shaquille O’Neal’s child. A DJ from an Orlando-based radio station asked his listeners to call the station’s number if they had any information about the mystery woman in Shaq’s life. This led to a whole other commotion and chaos in Shaq’s life.
Callers were fabricating information, making false claims, and making outrageous accusations about the mother of Shaq’s child. This ultimately made O’Neal’s personal life more dramatic than it already was.
So, when the seven-footer coincidentally ran into the very same DJ at a party, it took great restraint on Shaq’s part to throw hands. But instead, O’Neal said, “The gossip and rumors were just killing me, blowing me up inside. One night, I was at a club and saw the deejay who started all of it. I stood over this little tiny chump and, with all my self-control, said, ‘Man, you lucky you little.’”
Being a professional athlete, Shaquille O’Neal’s personal life would never really have been personal. So, it may have been the best decision by Arnetta to keep Taahirah away from the paparazzi spotlight during her initial developing years.
