Naked pranks on teammates and fooling ‘Chuck’ on live TV are typical of Shaquille O’Neal’s brand. His goofiness couldn’t even be turned off when his son was about to be born. Shaunie Henderson described what went down when their first child was born in her memoir Undefeated. Both Shaq and Shaunie had a kid each from their previous relationships then. Shareef was their first child together, and Shaq’s first boy besides his adopted son, Myles. Maybe the nerves took over because he did the most unhelpful thing to his then-girlfriend in labor.

Shaunie was terrified during her second childbirth. She was scared of taking an epidural for the pain because of the needle. Then Shaq arrived with her parents. “He was very quiet because he didn’t know what to say or how to help.” But his support was enough to reassure Shaunie to get an epidural till the 7’1″ giant saw the needle that administered it.

His reaction to it was a resounding, “Goddamn!” That’s the last thing you say around the patient who’s taking the same needle. Therefore, Shaunie’s mother rightfully scolded him, “Shaquille, don’t do that.” Her mother held her hand and per Shaunie’s description, she was worried about her too. But didn’t show it as she got an epidural which Shaunie is glad for in hindsight.

Then came the important bit where the dad had to play the main support. Shaq’s already been scolded by Shaunie’s mom and he was not sure what to do. Maybe he tried to help her relax and did something unnecessary. “I pushed, and Shaquille, thinking he was being funny, sang ‘Push It’ by Salt-N-Pepa.” The 1986 track whose chorus is, “Push it good, Push it real good” on loop. It’s as funny as that FRIENDS episode Joey breaks into a fan chant while a woman is in labor but with Shaunie in labor, it was not appreciated. “Excuse me, I am actively working at having this baby right now! But there he was, cracking jokes and cracking up the nurses,” was her complaint about his sitcom-grade antics.

Shaunie powered through anyway and after 15-20 minutes of labor and Shareef was born in 2000. The feeling was exhilarating for Shaq. “Shaquille was so proud. He had already had a daughter when I met him, but this was his first son, and Shareef was his pride and joy. He loved being able to say that he had a baby boy.” Now we need to know Shareef’s response to his dad rapping at his birth.

Shaq’s son reciprocates the love

24 years later, Shaq’s rap influence has rubbed off on Myles while Shareef pursued basketball. He dotes on his girls a little extra but he’s not shy of expressing how much he loves his sons to take after him. He however has remorse for how he treated their mother.

Shaunie’s memoir had a contentious confession that she wasn’t in love with her then-husband. O’Neal responded online saying, “I wouldn’t have been in love with me either.” His sons, Shareef and Shaqir stepped in to reassure him otherwise. Shareef commented, “Love you man! You saved my life.”

He’s referring to the time he was treated for a congenital heart defect at 18, a trying time for the entire family. Through the social media posts of that time, we see exes Shaq and Shaunie be a united front for Shareef. Hopefully, he didn’t serenade Shareef with ‘Shake Your Thang’ before the surgery.

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.