Shaquille O'Neal Biography

Shaquille O'Neal Biography

O'Neal was born in Newark, New Jersey. He remains estranged from his biological father, James Toney of Newark. Toney, who has struggled with drug addiction, was imprisoned when O'Neal was an infant. Upon his release, he did not resume a place in O'Neal's life and instead agreed to surrender his parental rights to O'Neal's stepfather, Phillip A. Harrison, an army sergeant. O'Neal and Toney have never spoken, and O'Neal has expressed no interest in a reconciliation. On his 1994 rap album, Shaq Fu: The Return, O'Neal voiced his feelings of disdain for Toney in the song "Biological Didn't Bother," referring to Harrison with the verse, "Phil is my father."

O'Neal, whose mother, Lucille (née O'Neal), is a Baptist and stepfather a Muslim, has not formally announced affiliation with a specific faith though in 2002, the Los Angeles Times identified O'Neal as being Muslim. The newspaper quoted him as saying, "It's a Muslim thing," with regard to the greetings he exchanged with opposing player Hedo Turkoglu before each game of that year's Western Conference Finals series. The newspaper also quoted Turkoglu as saying that he was not surprised at the gesture from O'Neal "because Muslim people support each other."

O'Neal married Shaunie Nelson on December 26, 2002. The couple have four children, and Nelson has one child from a previous relationship. O'Neal also has a daughter from a previous relationship, making him the father of six. The family currently resides on Star Island (Florida) in Miami. On September 4, 2007, O'Neal filed for divorce from his wife Shaunie in a Miami-Dade Circuit court. According to the petition, "The marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken," and that Shaunie was "secretive about her assets ... particularly with respect to certain properties owned or titled in either [her] name alone or in other entities" and requests that the court require Shaunie to give a "correct accounting of all money, funds, stocks, bonds, and other securities (including bearer securities)"