Retour
The 7-foot-1 athlete and analyst has been bald for 30 years.
Shaquille O’Neal has shocked longtime fans with a dramatic new look featuring a luscious head of hair.
The four-time NBA Champion and playful social media personality, who has been bald for three decades, showed off two completely new hairstyles in Nov. 4 Instagram posts.
In the first video, barber Chuck Taylor removes a blue towel from the retired basketball legend’s head, revealing a dark brown, tightly coiled hairpiece that falls to his cheeks.
“I don’t care what y’all say, my boy Chuck Taylor’s wife hooked me up with the man weave,” O’Neal, 54, said in the video, smiling proudly.
“Oh yeah, that thing nice right there,” he continued.
He added that he “still” has the same receding hairline as ESPN sports analyst Stephen A. Smith, 59, who has become the punchline of a long-running internet meme for his hair.
Fans of the 7-foot-1 star—who nicknamed himself “The Big Aristotle” after winning his first MVP award with the Lakers in 2000—quickly commented on his post, which garnered more than 17,000 likes.
“What ya doing, man?” one person asked.
“Shaw looks like Larry from The Three Stooges,” another fan joked.
“Noooo, keep your bald head,” another person added.
The Inside the NBA analyst continued experimenting with new hairstyles, sharing a later post where he debuted a rust-brown bob reminiscent of the Shrek antagonist Lord Farquaad.
IT'LL GROW BACK
“Can any hair transplant doctors make me look like this? I’ll pay one million dollars, and then I’ll change my name to Big Muddy,” O’Neal captioned the post.
“Shaq got that good hair,” one commenter mused.
Another fan told him to “gas up the plane for a Turkey trip.”
The dad of six has previously joked about his hair, or lack thereof, starring in a viral commercial for the Istanbul-based phone operator, Turkcell, where he underwent a mock hair-restoration procedure in Turkey.
In 2020, he unveiled a receding, grown-out hairline after losing a bet to former basketball star Dwyane Wade.
O’Neal shares one child with his ex-girlfriend, Arnetta Yardbourgh, whom he dated from 1992 to 1996, and five biological and adopted children with his ex-wife, Shaunie Henderson, whom he was married to from 2002 to 2011.
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