Shaquille O’Neal has attributed a ton of his NBA success to his mother, Lucille O’Neal, and stepfather, Sgt Philip Harrison. He considers his connection to his stepfather to be so close that he’s even said on multiple occasions that he thinks of Harrison as his actual father.
Advertisement
Both his parents were pillars that he could lean on when the going got tough. Of course, as Shaq has said many times, he received quite a bit of tough love from them. They weren’t afraid to resort to physicality to discipline him but Shaq claims that he doesn’t regret the way he was brought up in the slightest.
It was his father who took him to watch Julius Erving play for the Sixers and in that moment, O’Neal knew exactly what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Harrison promised to make him the greatest big-man of all time and well, he wasn’t far off.
Shaquille O’Neal realized he’d changed once his mother left his mansion
Earning hundreds of millions of dollars could change anybody’s personality for the worst, regardless of what they were like before the wealth and fame. This is what Shaquille O’Neal saw happening to him. He had his mother to keep him grounded but once she left his house, he realized just how much he’d changed.
“After mom and them left and I walked in my 90,000 sq ft house and ain’t nobody in there, that’s when it really hit. And then the queen, Lucille, said, ‘Ay man, I don’t know you no more, you need to humble yourself.’ When mama talks, a true man listens.”
Since then, Shaq has been nothing but a bundle of joy, living up to the true definition of what a gentle giant is.
Shaq’s father didn’t let him meet his real father
Philip Harrison refused to let his son, Shaquille O’Neal, meet his biological father all throughout his life. There was no need to as he didn’t help out in the slightest in raising the future Lakers legend.
However, upon Harrison’s passing, Shaq finally met his biological father and even went on to say that there were no hard feelings between the two.
