Shaquille O’Neal has a message for Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine.
Both men found themselves in cheating scandals around the same time. Last week, on Sept. 19, Adam Levine, who is expecting his third child with wife and Victoria’s Secret model Behati Prinsloo, was accused of having an extramarital affair with an Instagram model for over a year. Despite Levine denying the cheating accusations, more women have come forward and claimed that he had inappropriate relationships with them.
Days later, on Sept. 21, Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka made headlines when he was possibly facing a suspension for violating the organization’s code of conduct after allegedly cheating on his fiancée Nia Long with a female staff member. Udoka, who was ultimately suspended for the 2022-2023 season, has been variously reported to have had an affair with the team’s travel agent, but the team has release no additional details to the public.
On Sept. 25, during an episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” when asked about Udoka and Levine’s current situation, O’Neal revealed that he wouldn’t criticize the men because he was once in their shoes. O’Neal was married to Shaunie O’Neal from 2002 to 2009.
He said on mark 27:05, “I am going to step down from this conversation, let me tell you why. I was a serial cheater. It would be crazy and blasphemous for me to get up here and say boom, boom, bam. I can’t do that, I know these guys personally, I know they’re going through a lot because I went through a lot.”
The 50-year-old continued by saying despite not adding his opinion on the situation, he does feel remorse for those involved in the scandal.
O’Neal said, “I just wish certain parties weren’t involved. I’ve known Nia Long for a long time, I like her. I’ve known Adam [Levine] for a long time, and they’re going through a lot of family stuff.”
While sharing his own experience, O’Neal added, “But I’m never the guy that’s gonna get up here because of my platform and fake it. I did it. You know I was the best at it. I’m not proud of it, I lost my family doing it. I lost valuable important years of my children’s [life]. So I refuse to get up here and say ‘you shouldn’t have did this, you shouldn’t have done that.’ I’m not that guy.”
When asked by his co-host Nischelle Turner if any of the cheating is worth it, O’Neal stated that it wasn’t and claimed that cheating ruined the “happiest days” of his life, which was being with his family.
“To answer your question, no, it is not worth it but let me tell you why, the happiest days of my life were coming home and hearing six different people saying ‘daddy, daddy, daddy’ happiest days of my life. Forget the money, forget the cars, even forget the championships, especially when they were little, 2 and 3 and didn’t care that I missed 10, 15 free throws, they wait up for me after the games. … Those are the best days of my life. When I lost those, I was all the way down.”
Towards the end of the segment, O’Neal shared the struggles he still goes through since losing his family to his past infidelities. The list includes living alone in a house he built for his six children.
He said, “Sometimes I’m still all the way down, especially when I was in my house in Orlando, which is 70,000 square feet in there by myself. Nobody, I built the house for the kids, gym, game room, pool house this and that, guest house, when I lost that by being stupid, it killed me. So to answer your question, no it’s not worth it.”
O’Neal wrapped up his speech by wishing Udoka and Levine the best as they go through this journey. The entrepreneur said, “I wish these two fellas the best, I wish they could come through, and I hope they don’t lose their families over what was done.”
