ARLINGTON, TX - FEBRUARY 14: NBA player Shaquille O'Neal in the audience during the NBA All-Star Game held at Cowboys Stadium on February 14, 2010 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Shaquille O’Neal has a reputation for being quite secretive about his personal life and that has left many people curious about Shaq and his girlfriends
Shaquille O’Neal is one of the greatest basketball players to have graced the NBA, he is also quite secretive about his private life and not much is known about Shaq’s girlfriends apart from rumours. There aren’t many details about a lot of his girlfriends and not a lot is known about his dating life in general. Even details of his more well-known relationships are hard to come by.
Shaq’s first notable girlfriend was Arnetta Yardbourgh who he reportedly started dating in 1992. Arnetta is a life coach, philanthropist and the founder of a coaching, wellness and consulting firm. The relationship lasted till around January a1996 when they broke up. Yardbourgh gave birth to Shaq’s first child and oldest daughter Taahirah O’Neal in July that year. Shaq and Arnetta have remained on good terms since the split.
Shaq then reportedly started dating Va’Shaundya ‘Shaunie’ Nelson in 1998 and went on to marry her in 2002. Shaunie and Shaq both had children from previous relationships. They had four children together, Shareef Rashaun O’Neal and Amirah Sanaa O’Neal before their marriage and Shaqir and Me’arah O’Neal during their marriage. The couple split up in 2007 when Shaq reportedly filed for divorce before deciding to stay together. Shaunie later filed for divorce in 2009 and this time they split up for good with the divorce being finalized in 2011.
One of the reasons that they split up was because Shaq reportedly dated multiple women while married to Shaunie. But Shaq wasn’t the only one, Shaunie was with at least three men during the marriage.
After getting divorced Shaq briefly dated reality TV star Nicole “Hoopz” Alexander from 2010 to 2012. He was then dating author Laticia Rolle and they were reportedly together from 2014 to 2018.
Shaq is now reportedly dating Annie Ngozi Ilonzeh, a 39-year-old Actress. Little is known about the relationship but rumours spread in 2021 when a picture of them holding hands started trending.
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