Shaunie Claims Shaq Disliked “Poor People’s” Store Only to Fall in Love After Shocking Revelation

Don’t be surprised to find Shaq at the place you least expect. Since social media became a thing, there have been so many incidents of people walking into a Walmart, Forever21, or Target, and finding a certain 7’1″ giant by chance. At most, the entire store’s purchases are on Shaquille O’Neal’s tab or people can get pictures at least. Little did we know the “funny” backstory of him discovering the magical realm of department stores. That’s a new disclosure from his ex-wife, Shaunie Henderson’s memoir. Undefeated has climbed to the top of the Amazon bestseller list for a lot of revelations about their marriage. But Shaq discovering a Target is a gem that was never heard of before.

Shaunie revealed that Shaq had a preconceived notion about Target and Walmart in the early ’00s. “He thought of Target as the place where the poor people shopped, another version of Walmart.” O’Neal, who grew up under tough circumstances, had become used to the high life right from his rookie days in Orlando when the team placed him in the Ritz and flew him in private jets. He had signed a $120 million contract with the Lakers when he began dating Shaunie.

After two kids, and while raising Shaunie’s eldest, Myles, they married in 2002. She was pregnant with their third child, Shaqir, when a visit to Target was required. It was Halloween season and one of the kids’ costumes needed something. However, Shaq didn’t want his pregnant wife to go out by herself in the night (which she also found funny because it was roughly seven in the evening). The thing though, Shaq had never gone to the nearest Target, unlike Shaunie.

So she sent him the best “navigator,” a pre-tween Myles. She painted a fun picture in words. “This second-grader was leading this giant man around Target by the hand, and all the while Shaquille was looking wide-eyed, not believing what he was seeing.” When he called Shaunie from the store, she said he sounded like a kid in Disneyland telling her, “Oh my god, they have everything here.”

Shaunie had to coach Shaq, who made a five-minute Target errand into a 20-minute adventure. Instead of two things, he bought almost everything in the store, like car fresheners, candles, and towels. That day, “Target stopped being the cheap place where the poor people shopped and became his favorite store.” And it still is.

Shaq is one with the ‘cheap place’

One errand for his wife really did change his perception. During the duration of his marriage, Shaq walked away from Reebok and launched an affordable shoe line at Walmart. He also had an affordable size-inclusive menswear line at JC Penney. Target is known to carry some Shaq merch, and he’s an endorser for Home Depot.

When Shaq was traded from Miami to Phoenix in 2008, he arrived in the night in an unfurnished house. That led him to the nearest Walmart where his purchases totaled $70,000, apparently the largest in Walmart history. He has more stories in the ‘poor people’ stores like gifting a phone to a fan at Best Buy or paying for the Christmas purchases of every shopper at Forever 21 while with his daughter, Taahirah.

He doesn’t need any of his kids to act as navigators, either. Shaq and stores are the best mix.

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.