We all have something we fear. And Shaquille O’Neal is no exception. Despite his towering 7-foot-1 frame and 320-pound presence, the NBA legend recently revealed he’s “terrified” of dark nights. But that’s not all. Back in 2018, fans got another surprise when he appeared on Shark Week to confront his fear of sharks. Yes, even the Diesel gets the chills sometimes.
So, while Shaq pushed through and faced his aquatic fear head-on, there was someone else in the O’Neal household quietly dealing with his own phobia—his eldest son, Myles. Few realized his eldest son, Myles, wrestled with an equally deep fear.
Myles dropped the truth bomb during an episode of the Cheat Codes Podcast. “I’m also like deathly afraid of birds,” he said. “I got like a bird phobia, I’m like terrified of birds like by far by like more than anything else in the world.” He couldn’t even explain where it came from, but things escalated quickly. That fear somehow trickled over into his fear of flying, which added another layer of trouble to his life.
The phobia soon threatened his burgeoning $5 million modeling career. Myles, who carved a name for himself in fashion and modeling, built a net worth of $5 million, but traveling, especially overseas, became a nightmare. “When I had to do modelling, like fly Especially out the country… my brain was like we had to figure this out,” he admitted.
Shaquille ONeal perform as DJ Diesel in Croatia Myles O Neal, son of former American basketball player Shaquille O Neal, perform at the Diamond Club near Malinska on the island of Krk, Croatia, on July 14, 2022. GoranxKovacic/PIXSELL
Thankfully, he did. Myles found an oddly effective solution: sleep. “Now I can, like, sleep on command,” he shared. “It’s like two minutes, I’m out like cold like snoring out.” Sometimes, the simplest tricks save even the most glamorous careers. But that’s not the case with Shaq.
Shaquille O’Neal still can’t shake off his fear of the dark woods
Turns out, even conquering sharks doesn’t mean you’re fearless. To tackle his well-known phobia of sharks, Shaquille O’Neal took a bold step—literally. He dove into the calm, crystal-clear waters of the Bahamas and swam alongside reef sharks. While that sounds terrifying for most, it was part of a calculated exposure therapy plan. In fact, psychology expert Mitchell Schare, Ph.D., confirms that such methods are often the best way to break deep-rooted fears. But as brave as Shaq was in the water, his fear of the dark? That’s a whole different beast.
Interestingly, last month, during an episode of The Big Podcast, Shaq didn’t hold back about how unsettling the night can be. “Have you ever walked at night?” he asked comedian Bert Kreischer before recalling one particular evening that still haunts him.
“I asked because I was on a walking tip one time and I was walking at night, but I live back in the woods, I ain’t like that walk, I was terrified and I had my strap,” he said. “So whenever I’m really into it I like to say I’m GNA work out two times a night, so here over by the school, down by the thing I was hearing seeing. I was terrified, no, no seriously I was scared, I live in the woods.”
Naturally, things didn’t stop there. After co-host Adam Lefkoe asked about it, Shaq admitted he even talks to himself when passing a spooky old house on his walk. Lefkoe cracked, “The scarier thing is… You see Shaq walking through your backyard with a g–, talking to nobody.” So maybe conquering the dark is next on his list—if he doesn’t scare the ghosts away first.
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