NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has played for six franchises during his legendary NBA career that spanned 20 years. The Los Angeles Lakers legend has been one of the most successful basketball players ever to play the game. He broke several records and earned numerous accolades cementing himself as one of the game’s legends. It has been noted that he has a soft heart when it comes to romance. Shaq was crushing hard on actress Halle Berry back in the day but she was admiring his former teammate Kobe Bryant.
Shaq would constantly visualize a brighter future for himself, as he mentioned in his book, Shaq Uncut: My Story.In his college years at LSU, Shaq was still the same kid that never stopped dreaming. One night in his LSU dorm room, Shaq recalled:
“We were watching the movie Jungle Fever with Halle Berry in it, and I thought she was so stunning, so I wrote her a letter. I was just kind of kidding around, telling her I was a big fan and I’d love to meet her sometime.”
It was noted that his teammates gave him a hard time and called him all kinds of goofy names for this dreamy act, but Shaq wasn’t bothered, and as wild as it sounds, to everyone’s surprise, the stunning Hollywood actress replied back in a matter of weeks:
“A few weeks later, no lie, Halle Berry wrote me back. She sent me a signed picture that I still have hanging in my office. Turns out she’s a basketball fan. She wrote, ‘I’m a big fan of yours, too. I can’t wait until you get to the NBA.'”
Shaq ultimately made his dream come true when he met Halle Berry in person in 1999 and told her:
“‘You know, I wrote to you when I was in college.’ She said, ‘I remember. I told you that you’d be in the NBA!’ Halle Berry is a beautiful person—both inside and out. Sometimes I still can’t believe she knows who I am.”
