When did you realize that Santa Claus doesn’t exist? Shaq’s belief was broken a bit too early in his younger days, thanks to his military officer stepfather, Philip Harrison. He did the same favor for his kids. While, as Taahirah (Shaq’s oldest daughter) claimed, it might have ruined Christmas for her, O’Neal also became Santa Claus for them instead. He even went through an odd experience as the famous American toy company didn’t want him in the shop early when he wanted to buy gifts.

Rather than accepting gifts, he prefers giving them. For his kids, it’s much easier now for O’Neal since what they mostly want is money. But earlier, when they were younger, it was difficult for him as he had to go all the way to Toys “R” Us and choose. But what will take you off guard is the stores didn’t want the Big Aristotle to visit early. That is to avoid him from buying out everything.

“But when they were young, it was much harder. I would have to go into Toys R Us [at] like 11:58, right before they closed and then just wipe them out. A lot of times, they didn’t want me to come in Toys R Us early because they didn’t want me to buy all the toys, so I’d have to come in late, right before closing. They let me take the leftovers,” O’Neal told People magazine.

So, he would visit really late and buy whatever was left after the first sale. While he went through every ordeal to buy gifts for his kids, he himself isn’t fond of them. He says Santa Claus doesn’t take gifts. O’Neal even admitted to having a storeroom to keep all his unopened gifts for 30 years.

“I take it, I got a storage room with 30 years worth of gifts, I’ll open it up one day,” he claimed. Considering Shaq’s generous nature, it’s understandable where the toy company is coming from.

Why was the store so hesitant and afraid to welcome O’Neal before any other customers? He once bought a whole lot of things at Target when he went to buy just one item.

Shaquille O’Neal’s surprising revelation after visiting target 

Shaquille O’Neal had a misconception about Target, assuming it was just another store similar to Walmart, where people of lower income shopped. Because of this belief, Shaquille O’Neal had never set foot in a Target until one particular fine evening. Shaunie, his then-wife, was pregnant with their third child, and the Big Aristotle was unwilling to let her go to Target alone.

That was O’Neal’s first visit to the retail giant. He was astonished to discover that Target offered almost everything imaginable. In addition to picking up the items Shaunie had requested, he ended up buying nearly everything that caught his eye. Shaunie’s eldest son, Myles, was accompanying him on this shopping spree.

“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,” Shaunie wrote in her book. She recounted how the Los Angeles Lakers legend was elated when he called her. She added, “Target stopped being the cheap place where the poor people shopped and became his favorite store.” 

This is barely half as surprising as the rest of his antics. O’Neal once racked up a $70,000 bill at Walmart. While such extravagant spending might have been great for the store’s profits, the stores had other customers as well who would want to buy things.