Christmas in Shaquille O’Neal’s home has all the elements you’d expect: Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and presents... well, presents for everyone except the NBA legend himself.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, O’Neal revealed he rarely receives gifts during the holiday, and you might be shocked to know that’s exactly how he likes it.
According to him, he stopped accepting gifts from family in 1992 “when [he] became the breadwinner of the family,” he said. The holiday season is all about giving back, and that’s exactly what the former Lakers star does for his family. He told PEOPLE “as long as everybody else is happy, I’m happy.”
O’Neal noted in his family he’s like Santa, and because of that, he takes the role pretty seriously. “I always tell my family, ‘Show me a movie where Santa receives a gift and I’ll let you buy me a gift,’” he continued.
Matter of fact, O’Neal took his job as Santa so seriously that when his children were young, even Toys “R” Us had to ask him to stop coming in the store early. “I would have to go into Toys “R” Us [at] like 11:58, right before they closed and then just wipe them out,” he said. “A lot of times, they didn’t want me to come in Toys “R” Us early because they didn’t want me to buy all the toys so I’d have to come in late, right before closing. They let me take the leftovers.”
As his children—Taahirah, 28, Myles, 27, Shareef, 24, Amirah, 23, Shaqir, 21, and Me’arah, 18— have gotten older, Shaq says they occasionally still bring him gifts. When that happens, he follows a strict plan. “I take it, I got a storage room with 30 years worth of gifts, I’ll open it up one day,” he said.