Who is Amirah O’Neal? Taking a closer look at the personal life of Shaquille O’Neal and Shaunie Henderson's middle child
Four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal had a very successful career, while becoming one of the most dominant forces to reckon with. He has always been an extraordinary personality on and off the floor.
Although O’Neal lives an extravagant lifestyle now, he is very particular about the upbringing of his chilren. He has been open about the rules he’s set for his children, which include them working hard for themselves and not living off his money. Another rule is about dating – which he permits his kids to get into only past 25.
On "The Big Podcast," Shaq spoke about how he would not hand out anything to his future sons-in-law – issuing them a warning.
“You ain’t gonna work at one of my companies, you little punk," Shaquille O'Neal said.
What does Shaquille O’Neal’s daughter Amirah O’Neal do?
Shaquille O’Neal had a daughter, Taahirah, with his ex-girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh in 1996. A few years later, after that relationship ended, he started dating Shaunie Nelson (later O’Neal, and now Henderson). The couple had their first daughter – Amirah O’Neal – before getting married in 2002.
Amirah O’Neal (born on Nov. 13, 2001) was really inspired by her dad and elder brother, Shareef, which led her into basketball.
Amirah played at Crossroads High School in Santa Monica for three years, in a pivotal role – leading the team from the center position. She averaged 17.2 points in her junior year, which led to recognition in the Cal-Hi Sports Division IV All-State Team. Amirah was really helpful to her team, supposedly dominating the center position like her father.
At 6-foot-2, she has visibly taken a lot from her father’s game, and now plays NCAA basketball. She started off at Louisiana State University, where O’Neal played college basketball – but transferred to Texas Southern after the first year.
Amirah O’Neal is currently a basketball player and business major at Texas Southern. Johnny Jones, who was an assistant at LSU when O'Neal played, is the head coach at Texas Southern.
Amirah’s mom is proud of what her daughter has been able to achieve and spoke about her commitment in an interview with "Ballislife."
“She's not going to give up. She doesn't care what the score is. You're going to get full 100%.” Shaunie said.
Although her desire to give it her all can be attributed to being around a legend like O’Neal, she has got a lot more from Shaq. Being the child of an accomplished athlete is never easy, especially when choosing the same career. However, Amirah tries to find the funny side in such pressure situations, as she spoke about it in an interview with "Togethxr."
“So when anyone asks me if I am Shaquille O’Neal’s daughter, most of the time, I say no, just to mess with them. I love saying no because it just messes with people.” Amirah said.