Shaquille O’Neal did his best to woo a female reporter during a revealing interview about his ups and downs.
During a sit-down chat with Fox 26 Houston reporter Jade Flury on Wednesday, January 14, O’Neal, 53, said there’s “no manual on how to handle certain things” in life.
“There’s no manual on you being a young, gorgeous, African-American news anchor,” O’Neal told Flury, who graduated from the University of Houston in 2019.
Flury hardly reacted to O’Neal’s comment, but quizzed the NBA Hall of Famer about his love life later in the interview.
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“For the ladies who might be wondering, what is your relationship status?” she asked him.
O’Neal responded, “I’m married.”
When Flury noticed that O’Neal wasn’t wearing a ring, he clarified, “I’m married to myself.”
After O’Neal was asked if he’d ever want to get married again — he was previously married to Shaunie Henderson from 2002 to 2011 — O’Neal looked at Flury and said, “Yeah, I’ll probably get married soon.”
Flury asked O’Neal what qualities he looks for in his “dream woman,” which elicited a simple response. “I just want her to be nice,” O’Neal said.
“People are too picky sometimes. ‘I want this, I want that,’” O’Neal added. “I want somebody that’s nice and somebody that’s going to treat you with honor and respect. That’s it. That’s all you want.”
O’Neal took a beat and asked Flury, “Are you asking to marry me?”
“Uh no, I think it’s the other way around,” the reporter responded. “I don’t get down on my knees to do that.”
The 7’1” O’Neal answered, “Well, you wouldn’t have to get on your knees. I don’t make people get on their knees. Just ask me.”
Potential marriage proposals aside, O’Neal was candid about his past during the wide-ranging interview.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “But it’s called life experience.”
O’Neal added, “If I had to do it all over, would I do anything different? No. Before you succeed, you must first learn to fail and you have to figure things out. We want a lot of things. A lot of things come into play.”
The former Los Angeles Lakers star’s dating life made headlines in December 2025, when he was forced to explain that he was not involved with his friend’s wife after a post by sports media social account 4thQuarterTV suggesting as much went viral.
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“Yes my boys wife I can tell yall site is broke and need money nice try this is the reason yall always gonna b a broke blog,” O’Neal responded via Instagram. “Thanks for making me more money though #dummies.”
The woman in the photo, Monique Martin, is married to her husband, Ryan Rackleff, and the couple share three sons.
“My favorite guy is back in town and of course he stopped by to see his favorite people!!” Martin captioned a photo of herself and O’Neal via Instagram. “Class act always, which is why I love seeing that face pop in!!! 🏀🏀 #shaqattack #myfavoritehuman.”
In the comment section of her post, Martin called O’Neal “the biggest baby ever.”
