Shaquille O'Neal on nepotism and his kids
Shaquille O'Neal has explained that his children will need three degrees before they can access any of his wealth. He believes in what he calls respectable nepotism. "In order to touch Daddy's cheese you gotta have three degrees because I believe in respectable nepotism," he said. O'Neal recalled an incident from his time with the Miami Heat when an article appeared about a grandmother who left her son 250,000,000 dollars. He noticed a young man scrubbing a bathroom floor and asked him about the inheritance. "Yeah, but Dad wants me to start from the bottom," the young man replied. "Once I saw that I was like, you know what, that right there is respectable nepotism." O'Neal added that he also teaches his kids an important distinction. "I also have to teach my kids we're not rich, I'm rich.
Transcript (en)
In order to touch daddy's cheese, you gotta have three degrees. That's a lot of degrees. Yeah, because I believe in respectable nepotism. You know, I was with the Miami Heat one day and an article came out. The grandmother leaves the son $250 million, right? So I didn't think of nothing because it's a rich family. So I go in the locker room one day to shoot and this kid's on his knees scrubbing the bathroom floor. and I'm looking at him like, hey man, didn't your grandmother just give you 250 minutes? Yeah, but dad wants me to start from the bottom. So he had to do that. He was picking up jocks and he was, you know, he started in the marketing department and now I think he's the vice president. Once I saw that, I was like, you know what? That right there is respectable nepotism because the kid went to Duke, his grandma gave him 250. He could have been like, I'm not doing anything. But his dad said, nope, you start from the bottom. So that's what I also teach my kids. And I also have to teach them, we're not rich. I'm rich.
