“Almost drowned” – Shaquille O’Neal reveals how his weight nearly ENDED his life while scuba diving

Shaq remembers a time when he had to tap into his inner Shamu to save himself from drowning.

“Almost drowned” – Shaquille O’Neal reveals how his weight nearly ENDED his life while scuba diving

Shaquille O'Neal (Credits: Twitter/ HoopsHype)

Shaquille O’Neal, in addition to carving himself a legendary NBA career, has tried his hand at a number of things. From his foray into the world of rap to his acting roles and his successful business endeavors, “The Big Aristotle” has explored diverse avenues. However, his enormous size and stature have restricted him from enjoying certain fun aspects of life.

During a recent interview with Bobbi Althoff, Shaq was questioned about the activities he wishes he could partake in but cannot due to his towering height. Right off the bat, the NBA legend listed down a few adventure sports like sky diving and scuba diving. When pressed on the subject of scuba diving, Shaq explained he’s too heavy for it and recounted a near-death experience he had while attempting it.

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“I’m too heavy,” Shaq said. “Because when you scuba dive, they give you weights and then when I went down, I hit the button, but I never came back up. Almost drowned.”

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The LA Lakers legend went on to describe how his instincts took over, sharing how he channeled his inner Shamu (a famous killer whale) during the scuba diving mishap.

“But then my instincts kicked in… I just said the famous word Shaqmu. Shaqmu, like Shamu. And I just did like that (wiggles) and then I was at the top,” he added.

Sometimes, it’s really hard to believe whether the stories that Shaq narrate are true or not. However, when questioned on the same by Bobbi Althoff, he vehemently claimed that his accounts were not fake.

Also Read: “Kobe RATTED me out, that’s why I’m gettin’ divorced” – Shaquille O’Neal once blamed Kobe Bryant for ending his marriage to ex Shaunie

Shaquille O’Neal revealed that a horse tried to kill him

Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O’Neal (Scott Mlyn | CNBC)

Shaquille O’Neal crafted himself quite an NBA career owing to his enormous size. But it has also precluded him from doing several other things. During the same interview with Bobbi Althoff, Shaq revealed that he tried to ride a horse once, but it didn’t go as planned.

“Yeah, [I have ridden a horse]. He tried to kill me. It was a 22-hand Percheron. Big horse. But what I didn’t know is he was a carriage horse,“ he explained. “And then, when I tried to get on him, he tried to ‘Bronco Billy’ me… He was a carriage horse, and then another guy owned him, and I bought him from the guy,” the NBA icon concluded.

Despite one’s best efforts, the mental image of the towering Shaq atop a horse is difficult to erase. Surprisingly, the horseback mishap wasn’t due to Shaq’s size; rather, he revealed that the horse he attempted to ride wasn’t meant for direct riding in the first place.

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