Shaq Explains Why He Paid for Stranger’s Engagement Ring in Viral Video
- Shaq has made hundreds of millions thanks to his historic basketball career and shaq-net-worth-jeff-bezos-investment-strategy-2019-7″ data-analytics-product-module=”summary_bullets”business exploits.
- The NBA legend is known to pass on his good fortune to others through random acts of kindness.
- He told Insider how the philosophy behind his giving has helped save a relationship and make him “Uncle Shaq” to kids.
Shaquille O’Neal has earned more money than he could ever possibly spend thanks to his iconic basketball career and his lucrative business moves after retirement.
And now, he’s become known for passing on his good fortune to others through random acts of kindness.
“This is what I was taught — it’s not a charity thing for me,” O’Neal told Insider.
“I’m not the guy that sits around and goes ‘Let’s go build something and then call the media,'” he added. “That’s never been me.”
Instead, the Hall of Famer often opts for more subtle ways of giving back — though, at 7-foot-1, it’s rare that he can get away with moving in the shadows.
In 2021, a video of Shaq purchasing an engagement ring for an unsuspecting Zales customer went viral even though he says he didn’t mean for it to get out.
A part of that well-told tale that actually didn’t get out — until now, at least — was the fact that the young man “got his dates mixed up,” according to O’Neal.
“I think he had one more payment, but he told his girlfriend that he was gonna propose to her the next day,” O’Neal said. “So he’s talking to the manager, saying ‘Hey man, you know me, I always pay on time. Just let