![](https://image-cdn.essentiallysports.com/wp-content/uploads/GettyImages-1225291490.jpg?width=600)
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UNSPECIFIED – MAY 16: In this screengrab, Shaquille O’Neal speaks during Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020 on May 16, 2020. (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images)
![](https://image-cdn.essentiallysports.com/wp-content/uploads/GettyImages-1225291490.jpg?width=600)
via Getty
UNSPECIFIED – MAY 16: In this screengrab, Shaquille O’Neal speaks during Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020 on May 16, 2020. (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images)
True or false: Uncle Shaqie-wackie is the best. Shaquille O’Neal is stepping into game show host mode this summer giving 13 competitors a chance to win a $1 million jackpot in every episode of Lucky 13. But the biggest winner of the show is Gina Rodriguez’s son. Shaq’s co-host is a new mom and she’s enjoying the perks of working alongside the 7’1″ teddy bear. That also includes premium babysitting services and unrestricted access to giant footwear.
The Jane the Virgin star welcomed her first child, Charlie, with her partner, Joe Locicero in 2023 and went back to work right after. Her little man was her familiar work accessory on the set of Not Dead Yet and now on Lucky 13. And Shaq was extra careful of his best friend.
While Anthony Anderson was guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live, he asked her how’s it like working with O’Neal. Her response was an expressive, “Oh my god, I love him so much!” It’s their first time working together and Shaq was his usual gentle giant. “He was everything you want him to be and more.” The more is Shaq’s natural talent to handle kids.
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As Charlie accompanied his mom to work, he hung out with Shaq a lot. He was most accommodating when Rodriguez had to leave the set to be with her son and would call for breaks from filming out of consideration for his co-host.
Anderson had to know though, how did Charlie and Shaq’s first meeting go down. Unlike his interactions with the other Charlie (aka Charles Barkley) it went swell. As per Rodriguez, Charlie felt the same way everyone does when they meet Shaq in person. “Which is like, you are so tall,” and she proceeds to imitate how Charlie, a couple of feet above ground level, stared up at the 7’1″ NBA icon. That was the prelude to, as his mother described, Charlie falling, “madly in love with him.” The love was mutual and reciprocated with extra perks.
Shaq got dominated by little Charlie
As per Rodriguez, Charlie would “steal” Shaq from the set, hang out in his room, and jam to DJ Diesel’s ’90s rap music. Lucky 13’s ABC family even provided an image of Charlie literally in Shaq’s size 22 shoes.
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“He loves shoes. That’s probably his second word ever,” Gina said about her son. So when Charlie found custom made size 22 dress shoes, he went “Shaq shoes!” And he never wanted to get out of them.
What’s your perspective on:
Shaq's larger-than-life presence still leaves kids in awe—what's your favorite Shaq moment?
Have an interesting take?
Shaq’s other colleague at TNT, Kenny Smith called him the worst babysitter. Not the case with Gina and Charlie. Anderson had proof in a picture how attached the toddler was to him and sees him as a personal human amusement park. If Charlie was speaking full sentences, Anderson claimed he’d say, “Mom I want to go climb [Shaq]. I want to go to Shaq-a-Land.” Possible business idea for the Shaqtoberfest mogul?
We won’t get more Shaq & Charlie shenanigans that easily. But we will see Shaq and Gina do their thing when Lucky 13 premieres on July 18 on ABC and Hulu.
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Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.
Debate
Shaq's larger-than-life presence still leaves kids in awe—what's your favorite Shaq moment?