Shaq opens up on painkiller use — and ‘heated’ conversations over addiction

Shaquille O’Neal was candid about his use of pain pills and the “lifetime ban on strip clubs” that he sentenced himself to after going off the rails during his NBA career.

During an appearance on the “Armchair Expert” podcast, the four-time NBA champion recalled having to play through injuries on pain pills in order to “play great” — and explained that he didn’t realize he was addicted.

“You had to be on pain pills to play. You had to,” host Dax Shepard said, to which Shaq confirmed he did.

“Have you ever been scared about any of that addiction wise?” Shepard asked.

“I have a question. Is addicting for the chemical effect or are you just taking it?” O’Neal said. “Because I was having a heated discussion with my doctors like, ‘You were addicted.’ But I didn’t feel high… [Yes, I felt the absence of pain]. So I didn’t know that was addiction.

“… I don’t think I was suffering mentally. I think if I had a knack, I would take it [because] I don’t want to feel that knack because we need this game.”

“… Then I would do homeboy math. If it said take one, I’m taking three… I had to have them, so is that addiction?”

O’Neal, 53, added that he was taking anti-inflammatories for 19 years as a part of his regular routine during the season. He did not take them in the summer and he didn’t feel withdrawal effects.

“It’s not that I was hiding it… the trainers knew. I mean, I’m not telling my wife or my kids or my boys,” O’Neal said.

Nowadays, O’Neal reaches for Hookah to stay grounded and social.

“I’ve never been into weed. Hookah,” he said. “No [it doesn’t give me a buzz], it enables me to follow the routine of sit your ass down. When I was young and dumb and I lost my family — I lost my family by doing too much, being out, being in too many places. But now I don’t go to clubs, I don’t go to gentleman’s clubs.

“If you see me in the club it’s because I am DJing. I gave myself a lifetime ban that stuff. But I am not a mute. I don’t just work and go home. I allow myself to go to a hookah bar.”

O’Neal and his ex-wife Shaunie Henderson share four children: sons Shareef and Shaqir and daughters Amirah and Me’arah.

They married in 2002 and Shaunie filed for divorce in 2009. It was finalized in 2011. 

O’Neal has a daughter, Taahirah, from an earlier relationship — and Henderson’s son Myles, also from a previous relationship, later took on O’Neal’s surname.