Shaquille O’Neal has non-negotiable rules that his son and daughter must follow in their dating lives, it has been reported.
The NBA legend is one of the greatest basketball players of all-time, winning the NBA Championship on four occasions.
O’Neal spent the majority of his career with the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers, where he played alongside or against the likes of Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman and Kobe Bryant.
Now 52, O’Neal is still active in the sport as an analyst for the television show ‘Inside the NBA’, which airs on TNT and NBA TV.
He has delved into acting – largely playing himself in film roles – and even appeared on an episode of WWE Raw in 2009.
He also co-hosts the American game show Lucky 13, which premiered earlier in 2024 and gives 13 contestants the opportunity to win $1,000,000 through a range of mini-games.
O’Neal is a father to six children, five of whom he shares with ex-wife Shaunie O’Neal and a sixth, eldest daughter Taahirah, with ex-partner Arnetta Yardbourgh.
Shaquille O’Neal at the unveiling of his statue in 2017 – Getty
On an episode of ‘The Big Podcast with Shaq‘, the 52-year-old was asked by Bert Kreischer about whether he has any dating restrictions for his six children, including his two daughters.
He replied: “Don’t bring no boys to my house unless you got a master’s. I don’t want to see them at all.”
He added that if his daughter’s partner ‘arrived with a three-piece suit, was well put together and had a master’s degree’, he would simply ask for one question to be answered: “What you trying to do?”
In a separate 2018 interview with Ellen DeGeneres, O’Neal opened up on another restriction he has for his sons and daughters: “My sons can date when they’re 18, and my daughters can date when they’re 24.
“You’re right, it’s not fair. But my daughters are much smarter than my boys, and I want them to always be focused.
“And I want them to realise, hey, you have to be happy within yourself. You don’t really need anybody to make you happy. You can do your own thing.
“First thing I have to let the guy know is, all the little thing that you think you doing, I invented. And all the little things, like you going to the movies and you start to do stuff like that, I did all that stuff.
“So I need to let him know that I know what he’s thinking. Just really torture him. Torture him bad.”