It wasn’t a ‘village’ that raised Shaquille O’Neal, it was a one-woman force named Lucille O’Neal. On Raising Fame, Dr. Lucille O’Neal went from host to guest when it came to talking about bringing up a future basketball star when she was barely a teen. Lucille was 17 when she became a mom. She had her mother’s support but was mostly on her own. That time, Lucille believes, is why she’s so close to the eldest of her four children. Yet five decades later, she can admit that the situation was far from perfect.

When asked how it felt at 17 to find out she’s going to be a mother and telling her family, Lucille promptly replied, “Not too good.” In her own memoir, Lucille admitted her grandmother did not take the news well and threw her out. But Lucille’s mother, Odessa came through for her. It’s why Shaq openly admits he never cared for his great-grandmother as much his grandmother.

Having her mother’s support was important as Lucille would find out soon that she’d be a single mother. Shaq’s biological father, Joseph Toney, would dip out before he was born. She called that surreal period, “A true experience, it really was.”

While admitting, “When I think back on it I realize today it should not have been a situation I should’ve been in,” she doesn’t speak about doing anything differently. Lucille said, “It matured me because I had to take the responsibility of being in that situation. Shaquille’s father at that time he didn’t want to be a father and I had no choice either I’m going to be the mother or I’m going to have to give this child up and I couldn’t bring myself to do that at all. So I took the responsibility even though I had to do it on my own.”

As Shaq himself has confirmed before, his childhood was not easy. His mother had made a lot of sacrifices to raise him and his siblings, starting from when O’Neal was only a few months old. “I did what i needed to do,” Lucille said. “I went on welfare for a while to help get some things taken care of but I eventually went to work. Shaquille was three months old when I went to work.”

Lucille did the best out of her circumstances and Shaq has not gone a day without expressing how grateful he is for it.

Shaq’s biggest wealth is his mom

When he’s attended public events, $500 million rich Shaq’s brought up his definition of ‘rich’ often. “My definition of being rich is being able to buy my mother whatever she wants.” It always accompanied a narration of the times Lucille chose not to replace worn-out shoes or clothes to ensure there’s a little extra spending money for her kids.

It wasn’t just Shaq buying expensive cars for her as soon as he raked in millions playing in the NBA. He supported her to go back to school and get her degree so she’s now Dr. Lucille O’Neal. Mama Lucille and her recipes are also the muse of Big Chicken Shaq and its growth. And when Lucille asked him to help a few kids, he started Shaq-a-Claus and Shaq-to-School, his giveaways for kids.

The stories about Shaq going above and beyond for his mom are countless. And some of it is explored in TV One’s Raising Fame.