“The Man” Shaquille O’Neal Explains His Justification for Bullying Kids in High School: “If You Fear Me, You’re Not Going to Talk About Me”

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has always been open about his life and career. He has multiple times talked about some of the unflattering moments in his life that have shaped him and made him a better person. The Big Diesel has always been outspoken about some of his misdoings over the years as well. It is safe to say that he is someone who does not have any problem admitting he did something wrong. And that was certainly the case when he talked about bullying his peers in high school.

Young Shaq was different than most children his age owing to his size. So he had to endure quite a bit of name-calling and teasing in school. However, not after he decided to do something about it.

Shaquille O’Neal opened up about his bullying in high school

A young Shaquille O’Neal started bullying his schoolmates in hopes that they would stop talking about him if they were afraid of him. During a recent interview with Jack Holmes from Esquire, O’Neal answered a lot of questions including those about his bullying habits. “The quicker I got through whooping everybody in the school, the quicker you know Shaq’s the man,” Shaq said when he was asked about his bullying in school.

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The four-time NBA champion then revealed his justification at the time to bully his peers. He said, “So now, if you fear me, you’re not going to talk about me. That’s what I wanted.”

The Los Angeles Lakers legend is not proud of his bullying. And he had to change his ways after a reality check. A young O’Neal once had a fight with a boy in high school. When Shaq punched the boy hard, he fell down and had a seizure. That was the first time he had seen anyone having a seizure, and he was worried that he had killed the boy. This changed O’Neal forever.

The former MVP once talked about it saying, “After that, my bully days are over.”

Shaq’s father gave him a reality check

Shaquille O’Neal was brought up in a strict household by his father Phillip A. Harrison who was a drill sergeant. After Shaq’s altercation with the boy, Harrison decided to give him a reality check. He reached out to a prison guard for help.

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The guard took O’Neal on a prison tour and added he would have ended up in the prison had the boy been killed during the altercation. This shook a young Shaq profoundly and he decided to not bully anyone ever again.