Shaq Reveals His Unexpected $1,000 Grooming Habit
The basketball star takes his appearance seriously.
Grooming can be an essential part of your life when you're in the public eye. NBA players might not be best known for personal maintenance, but retired champ Shaquille O'Neal certainly takes his appearance seriously.
On a recent episode of his podcast The Big Podcast with Shaq, the Olympic gold medalist confessed that he spends a pretty penny on pedicures. "I give about $1,000 because I know my feet stink, I know they’re ugly, and I like to paint them," he said. "I paint that s--t because it’s ugly and I want it to look pretty."
The idea to paint his toenails first came from his mother. He once tore off one of his toenails and wasn't going to play in an upcoming game, but his mom put some red nail polish on the spot after tending to the injury. Shaq ended up scoring 40 points that game. "So I was like, you know what? I'm just going to start painting my toenails," he resolved.
Shaq doesn't limit himself to just solid colors like red or blue. He admitted he liked to jazz it up sometimes.
"I do, like, sparkles and designs and all this stuff, you know, just to make it look pretty because I have ugly, stinky feet," he said.
Shaq is open about getting pedicures and has shared videos from the chair before. A few years ago, he got a pedicure live on air on Good Morning America. And last year, he even made one pedicurist sick to her stomach as she attested to how bad his dogs smell.
He's not ashamed of his feet and has even shown them while hosting TNT's Inside the NBA. They've become meme fodder in the past, and they once again became the subject of ridicule when SportsCenter shared a clip of them on Instagram.
Sometimes, it's best to leave things like this to the professionals.