Shaquille O’Neal has a message for those who are concerned about his health. The NBA legend went to Twitter to share a health update after posting a photo of him in a hospital bed. O’Neal had surgery on his hip and said he’s in good spirits. The tweet O’Neal posted featured a video of him in a Lakers jersey with his buttocks on full display. It also featured a remix of Adelle’s “Hello.”
“To all the people who are worried and concerned. first off, let me say thank you,” O’Neal wrote, “And lastly no need to worry, just had to get some BBL (Brazilian butt lift) WORK AKA [hip replacement]. Thanks and love you all. but no need to worry and yes i’m fine.”
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On Sunday, O’Neal shared his hospital bed photo and wrote he’s “always watching” TNT co-hosts Candace Parker and Ernie Johnson. It’s not clear when O’Neal could return as a co-host for TNT’s Inside the NBA but it could be sometime next month. When speaking with O’Neal said he wanted to lose 60 pounds by his birthday, which was earlier this month.
“I lost 40 pounds,” O’Neal said. “I need to lose about 20 more, but impressive. Imma get real chiseled up and do an underwear ad with my sons.” O’Neal played in the NBA from 1992-2011 and is considered one of the most dominant centers in basketball history. In his career, O’Neal was named an All-Star 15 times, named NBA MVP in 2000 and won four NBA Championships with two different teams (Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat).
In November, O’Neal’s docuseries Shaq premiered on HBO which took a closer look at his life and career. “Every time I went to a place, I made my name quickly,” O’Neal told PEOPLE at the time. “I’d find out who ‘the guy’ was, study him, and I’d beat him up. Take his spot. Everybody knew who I was.” After a nearly life-changing schoolyard fight — “I almost killed a kid,” admits O’Neal. “They showed me the jail” — he changed his tactics for fitting in. “I shifted everything into becoming the class clown. Just to make people like me. It was [another] mechanism for [dealing with my insecurity]. I wasn’t a leader yet. I was a follower on the wrong path.”
