Is Shaquille O'Neal having an affair with his friend's wife? That was the rumor heating up the internet after a woman named Monique Martin posted a picture alongside the former NBA superstar with an interesting caption.
"My favorite guy is back in town and of course he stopped by to see his favorite people!! Class act always, which is why I love seeing that face pop in," Martin captioned an Instagram post, adding the hashtags "#shaqattack" and "#myfavoritehuman."
O'Neal, 53, embraced Martin from behind in the photo, which sent romance rumors into overdrive.
Days later, 4thQuarterTV shared the photo along with the caption, "#Shaq recently pulled up on a man’s wife, and she had this to say." The comments section quickly filled up with messages about O'Neal and Martin, many people believing that the two were hooking up based on the hug—and the original caption.
"And I know them type of hugs," one person wrote.
"That’s that I hit this before hug," someone else said.
"Hugging your boys wife from the back is diabolical," a third comment read.
"Shaq attack is crazy," a fourth Instagram user added.
It didn't take long for O'Neal to see the post and he set the record straight with a comment of his own.
"Yes my boys wife I can tell yall site is broke and need money nice try this is the reason yall always gonna b a broke blog. Thanks for making me more money though #dummies," O'Neal said.
This isn't the first time that O'Neal has faced dating rumors head on. Back in September, the Los Angeles Lakers great denied dating Sophie Rain after he was photographed with her at her 21st birthday party.
"I don’t daw that young but I will date your mom and give u a brother,” Shaq commented on an Instagram post that suggested that he and Rain were an item.