Shaquille O’Neal; Jason Kelce.Photo:Arturo Holmes/Getty; Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Prime Video
Arturo Holmes/Getty; Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Prime Video
WhenShaquille O’NealhadJason Kelceon an episode ofThe Big Podcast with Shaqin February, the formerNBA star warned Kelce, 36, not to make the same “dumbass mistakes” he made with family amid his retirement.
In a new interview with PEOPLE, O’Neal reflects on his conversation with Kelce.
“What I was telling him was some good information,” says O’Neal. “And with this world we live in, you release information. Some people will like it, some people won’t like it.”
O’Neal, who retired in 2011 after 19 years in the NBA, says he’s “not the guy that’s looking for feedback, whether it’s negative or positive,” as the podcast interview with Kelce garnered social media discourse around O’Neal’s life these days.
“The only time I respond to feedback is if it’s super, super negative or if I’ve done something crazy, and in that sense, I had done something crazy. So I wanted to explain to him that, don’t do this. This is what you should never do,” O’Neal explains.
Shaquille O’Neal poses with his children.Cassy Athena/Getty
The four-time NBA champion hassix childrenand shares four of them with ex-wifeShaunie Henderson: sons Shareef and Shaqir and daughters Amirah and Me’arah. He also shares daughter Taahirah with former girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh and stepson Myles, from Shaunie’s previous relationship.
O’Neal has been honest in recent years about his infidelity during his marriage to Henderson. Over the course of their relationship, which began in the late 1990s and ultimately ended in 2009 when Henderson filed for separation, the couple struggled with his cheating. InShaq Uncut: My Story, his 2011 book, the basketball great admitted to not being the “best partner” to her.
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Kelce officiallyannounced his retirementon March 4, roughly two weeks after his conversation with the former Lakers star.
O’Neal tells PEOPLE he hasn’t seen thefull 40-minute speechKelce tearfully delivered in front of his brother,Travis Kelce, his wifeKylie, and parents,Donna and Ed, but he’s seen parts of the announcement.
Jason Kelce #62 of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs wave onstage during Super Bowl LVII Opening Night.
“I actually do have a little brother who I used to beat up on, but he’s not in the pros,” O’Neal says, referring to his half-brotherJamal Harrison, who played college basketball at LSU, where O’Neal won the NCAA Player of the Year award in 1991. “But when he was talking about the interactions with his brother and all the stuff they went through, and we have mutual friends, so I already knew he was a great guy,” O’Neal says of Kelce.
Expanding on his perspective regarding public opinion, O’Neal tells PEOPLE he’s learned to take feedback with a grain of salt. “I don’t take myself seriously. So if I hear something crazy, I go strictly into laugh mode,” he says.
source: people.com
