During his early days at TNT Shaquille O’Neal received preferential treatment from the studios which didn’t go down well with the already-established crew. He used to come to work with an entourage and it seemed his NBA days were not behind him. On top of this, his peculiar habit meant he got his own lounge. What was this habit? Well, as Charles Barkley revealed a few months ago, Shaq was addicted, addicted to hookah.

Shaq has fleetingly mentioned his hookah habits in the past, but a few months ago Barkley brought up Shaq’s hookah addiction. Shaq even bought a hookah bar in 2022, and when Letterman asked Shaq whether he was addicted, the NBA player answered in the affirmative and said he “can stop anytime.” But his recent comments suggest he has no desire to quit for now.

During an appearance on the Houston Texans YouTube, Shaq was asked about his hobbies and playfully dodged the question, saying, “I’m not allowed to say that I smoke hookah every day.” Well, he may not have dived into the topic here, but back in March, his hookah addiction was the talking point during a backstage segment with the Inside the NBA crew and David Letterman.

As part of Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, Barkley revealed, “Some of the crew, we all go out and have a drink ’cause you’re kind of wired after the show. There’s a dive bar up the street we go to, and Shaq doesn’t drink.” Trying his best Shaq impersonation, Chuck added, “He’s like, ‘You guys are a******s. I got nothin’ to do after the show.’”

Notably, Shaq didn’t join the others because of his mother’s struggles with alcoholism. She has since sobered up and turned her life around and Shaq has refrained from drinking in public. But he still needed a hobby to wind down after working in the studio and so he found a way.

Feeling left out after two weeks, he strutted into Studio J with a solution. “I solved my problem. I bought a hookah bar,” he announced. Barkley couldn’t help but laugh, quipping, “That lets you know he got too much money.” In 2022, Shaq bought a hookah bar and told Letterman that it did “brisk business”

Shaq’s hookah addiction is nothing new, but as seen on the recent podcast, he doesn’t like to discuss it much. This was also the case last year when co-host Nischelle Turner made an interesting revelation on The Big Podcast. Shaq used to frequent a hookah bar with Spice Adams and Turner reminded her that they gifted the 15x NBA All-Star a hookah on Christmas in 2022.

O’Neal didn’t admit to his habits but  Turner continued, “Spice, do you remember when he choked himself smoking hookah on this podcast?” Shaq also revealed that on the rare occasion his children caught him smoking hookah, he would lie to them about his habit and say,  “‘That’s my asthma treatment. When you see Daddy on the asthma machine, don’t come to my office.’ They say, ‘Yes, sir.’”

Meanwhile, his hookah habits were also a reason for disdain among the TNT crew in the early days.

The time when Shaquille O’Neal’s obsession with hookah seemed a bit unhealthy

Imagine showing up to work and finding your co-worker has set up a hookah lounge right outside the office. Sounds wild, right? Well, that’s exactly what happened when Shaq joined Inside the NBA. On the All the Smoke podcast, Kenny Smith once hilariously recalled Shaq’s early days with the crew.

“He created a hookah lounge in the studio… He was like, ‘I have to have my hookah,'” Smith shared. Believe it or not, the network went along with it, setting up a cozy hookah corner complete with a TV just for Shaq.

But not everyone was thrilled. Between his entourage and the VIP treatment, Shaq’s grand arrival rubbed some colleagues the wrong way. Thankfully, those early bumps smoothed out, and the cast went on to create some of the most entertaining moments on TV.