After Putting Lucille Through Tumultous 12 Years, Shaquille O’Neal Honors Mother With 1 Big Mission at Vegas Fantasy Land

Shaquille O’Neal once admitted to being a “juvenile delinquent”. Through the course of his career however, the four-time champion turned things around. Now, the $400 million man has used those difficult years to fuel his latest venture in Las Vegas. This exhibit is like taking a plunge into Shaq’s life through an immersive experience blending multimedia and art. And all this wouldn’t have been possible without the legend’s mom.

As the curator of this new venture, Shaq drew from his own dreams. His mom, Lucille O’Neal, is central to those dreams that he fulfilled because of her.

CFO Shaquille O’Neal has a role model in his mom

Shaquille O’Neal dubbed himself Chief Fantasy Officer aka CFO to launch Shaq’s Fantasy Labs in Las Vegas. In collaboration with Fantasy Labs Las Vegas, this multimedia exhibit is an audio-visual dreamscape, quite literally. O’Neal’s life story, dreams, thoughts, and feelings are the inspiration behind the direction. It is divided into two options, ‘Time to Dream’ and ‘Midnight Dreams.’

While giving Good Morning America a tour of the exhibit, Shaq got candid about the very dreams that are depicted in this hypnotic way. Much of it is drawn from Shaq’s childhood, “When I was a youngster all I did was dream. Especially in the dark, I used to just close my eyes and all the dreams that I dreamed about actually came true.”  

The 2000 NBA MVP fulfilled his dreams to become a professional athlete, celebrated rapper, and get a doctorate. But the most important dream come true for him had to do with his mom. “First dream, got to give my mother a nice house, of course.” 

As history goes, Lucille was a single mom to Shaq in his early life before she married military vet, Philip Harrison. Shaq grew up on army bases and his family financially struggled too. After the Orlando Magic selected him in 1992, O’Neal put his paycheck together to buy his parents a home worth $1 million.

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Lucille is also the driving force behind everything Shaq does including Fantasy Labs. “My mission from my mother is to continue to make people happy.”

Previously, he launched Big Chicken Shaq in Vegas based on his mother’s recipes to spread smiles with her food. Fantasy Labs is another way to fulfil that mission.

Shaquille O’Neal’s childhood truths

Before he was the vibrant entertainer, Shaquille O’Neal experienced a lot of hardships in his childhood. He admitted that he had a juvenile delinquent past which stressed his mother for 12 years.

As he fulfilled his dreams to be in a position to take care of his family, Shaq made up for the trouble tenfold. “I’m just a regular person that listens to his parents and follows his dreams,” Shaq told GMA. He repeated this advice to his little fans who want to be like him too.

Shaq also revealed his mother encouraged him to do one good deed a day which fuels his philanthropic pursuits.

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His Fantasy Labs gives visitors the chance to visualize dreams in a childlike way. What do you think about this mother-son relationship that created the Chief Fantasy Officer?