Shaquille O'Neal recalls very weird Marilyn Monroe confession to business partner

Joshua MbuTue, August 11, 2026 at 5:45 PM UTC

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Shaquille O'Neal has been fascinated with Marilyn Monroe -Credit:Getty

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal recalled a weird Marilyn Monroe confession that he made to a business partner decades after the famous actress' death.

O’Neal, 54, remains one of the NBA’s most prominent voices, working as an analyst for ESPN's Inside the NBA, and his many business ventures have made him one of the wealthiest ex-basketball players in history. The multi-time NBA champion is also a big family man, fathering six children.

Shaq had also been married once before, to Shaunie Henderson, with whom he was married from 2002 to 2010. The former Los Angeles Lakers star hasn’t tied the knot since, but he did have an unrealistic idea of who he would have wanted to.

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Shaq told his business partner Jamie Salter that he wanted to marry the famous American actress Monroe, who died just shy of a decade before the Hall of Famer was born.

“J, we have this weird relationship where we come up with crazy ideas 3 or 4 in the morning. He only told me no, one time. So I called him at 4:00 a.m. I said, ‘Jamie, I got a great idea,’” Shaq said on the Boardroom podcast alongside Salter and host Rich Kleiman.

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“He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘I want to marry Marilyn Monroe,’” Shaq continued. “Shut the hell up, Shaq,” Salter responded.

Salter did, however, compromise. “He did send me an AI version of him getting married to Marilyn,” Shaq said.

Actress Marilyn Monroe poses for a portrait lying on the grass in 1954 in Palm Springs, California -Credit:Getty

Shaq’s ties to Monroe run deep despite having never met the actress. Last year, the ex-NBA Big Man imagined himself marrying the Hollywood icon and building a life together. The clip went viral on social media.

“Pls be my valentine, Marilyn Monroe,” Shaq captioned the post on Valentine’s Day.

Shaq also holds a stake in the rights tied to her name and image through ABG. That means Shaq’s investment has given him a slice of Monroe’s estate.

Monroe isn’t the only American icon Shaq has close ties to. He did similarly with Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. Shaq has been brutally honest about why his marriage to Henderson didn’t work out.

Shaquille O'Neal speaks onstage during The Big Pod panel at Fanatics Fest NYC 2026 at Jacob Javits Center on July 17, 2026, in New York City -Credit:Getty

He admitted that he “messed up” and that Henderson “was finer than a mug,” in a raw, unfiltered assessment of his one marriage. “I was just being greedy,” he said.

“I had the perfect situation. Wife was finer than a mug, kept giving me babies, still finer than a mug. I had it all, and I don’t make excuses — I know I messed up.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”