"Give me those cupcakes": Former 395-lb giant Shaquille O'Neal shares how he was bullied by a girl
Shaquille O'Neal is not someone you would expect to have been bullied. Throughout his NBA career, O'Neal was a dominant force, often overpowering some of the best athletes on the planet. However, as a teenager, O'Neal had to deal with bullies daily.
During a recent interview on the 'PBD podcast,' Shaquille O'Neal shared how he was once bullied by a girl named Monica, who would consistently beat him up and steal his food.
"I think there's one right there," O'Neal said. Is that you, Monica? No, that's not Monica. This girl Monica, she used to beat me up all the time. Seriously. Give me those cupcakes. Here you go, Monica."
"True story. Don't tell anybody. Yes, true story. Monica would beat my butt every day...No guys. Guys never bullied me."
During the interview, O'Neal discussed how he had to change his mentality during school.
It's that mentality shift that saw him become a different type of person who had no problem dominating physically. Shaquille O'Neal became the bully; with that, a future superstar in the NBA was born.
Shaquille O'Neal reckons Kobe Byrant developed a killer instinct
During the same interview, Shaquille O'Neal was asked if he'd ever seen someone develop a killer instinct rather than being born as a natural competitor.
Shaquille O'Neal gave a response that may shock some, as he noted that Kobe Bryant didn't become the fierce competitor we all knew before his third year in the NBA.
"Yeah, his name was Kobe Bryant because when he first came in his first two years, he was an NBA player. But it's not to that 2nd, 3rd year that he became Kobe Bryant. I was similar in high school."
O'Neal continued.
"Kobe's a winner. The mindset of Kobe, how different was his from everybody else? It was alien. Like, when he was 18, he used to be in a locker room dribling and shooting without the ball for hours, and then you see him practise the same move on the court.
"Like, he was obsessed with being the best ever. I was obsessed with being the most dominant. He was obsessed with being the best ever. And sometimes you sacrifice a lot of things. And all he did was work out. All he did was work out, work out. And I knew all he did was work out. So I used to push his buttons all the time"
O'Neal and Bryant were the most feared duo in the NBA, dominating the league together and winning championships. If anybody knows how much of a fierce competitor Bryant was, it's O'Neal, and for a self-proclaimed bully, any praise from Shaq is high praise.