Shaquille O’Neal opened up during an appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast and shocked his fans with a personal confession. The NBA legend revealed that he faced serious personal struggles after losing control during his professional basketball stardom.
He also admitted to frequent use of painkillers and anti-inflammatories. Injuries during his career forced him to take these medications just to stay on the court. However, the habit led to consequences he decided to share publicly.
Was it a painkiller addiction or not?
According to the New York Post, O’Neal revealed a side of his life many fans didn’t know. The four-time NBA champion chose to stop taking pain medication and even imposed a “lifetime ban” on himself from strip clubs.
Armchair Expert host Dax Shepard asked O’Neal if he feared becoming addicted to painkillers. The NBA legend replied: “I have a question. Is it addictive because of the chemical effect, or are you just taking it?… I was arguing with my doctors, like, ‘You were addicted.’ But I didn’t feel high… [Yes, I felt the absence of pain]. So I didn’t know that was addiction.”
“…I don’t think I was mentally suffering. I think if I had an ability, I’d take it [because] I don’t want to feel that ability since we need this game… Then I’d do homeboy math. If it said take one, I’m taking three… I had to have them, so is that addiction?” O’Neal explained.
He revealed that he took anti-inflammatories for 19 years as part of his regular season routine. However, during the off-season, he stopped taking them and didn’t experience any withdrawal.
“It’s not like I was hiding it… Coaches knew. I mean, I wasn’t going to tell my wife or my kids,” O’Neal said, adding that he now uses hookah as a way to socialize.
“I’ve never liked marijuana. Hookah… No [it doesn’t give me a buzz], it just lets me keep my routine of sitting on my butt. When I was young and dumb, I lost my family by doing too much, being out, being in too many places. But now I don’t go to clubs, I don’t go to gentlemen’s clubs,” he said.
Finally, O’Neal admitted he still goes out to have fun, but in a different way. “If you see me in a club, it’s because I’m DJing. I gave myself a lifetime ban from those things. But I’m not mute. I don’t just work and go home. I allow myself to go to a hookah bar.”
