Shaquille O’Neal Asks Bobbi Althoff on Date to the Movies — and She Says Yes!

O’Neal was a guest on Althoff’s “The Really Good Podcast” in Sept. 2023

(L) Shaquille O’Neal; (R) Bobbi Althoff. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty, Mat Hayward/Getty

Shaquille O’Neal may be retired from basketball, but that didn’t stop him from shooting his shot with podcaster Bobbi Althoff for a potential romance.

During an episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, O’Neal, 52, called Althoff, 26, on camera to ask her on a date to the movies, and The Really Good Podcast host agreed to join the NBA legend.

Before phoning Althoff, O’Neal slyly asked his podcast guest Funny Marco how long he and Althoff had been dating. Rumors of the potential romance between Marco, 30, and Althoff began after they made public appearances together, including an ultra-friendly TikTok Althoff posted.

Marco didn’t answer O’Neal’s question about dating Althoff. Instead, he asked O’Neal, “How long have you been DM-ing Ice Spice?”

“Since the Super Bowl,” O’Neal answered. O’Neal shared that Ice Spice only responded to his messages “one time” — and then he asked Marco to set him up with Althoff.

“Bobbi. Hook me up with Bobbi,” O’Neal said. When Marco questioned the idea, O’Neal said, “Once she goes Shaq, she’ll never go back.”

Marco said that he doesn’t think Althoff “is a good one for you,” but O’Neal insisted on calling the podcaster, who recently split from her husband Cory after four years of marriage.

When Althoff picked up O’Neal’s call, he said, “I’m sitting here with Funny Marco. He told me to ask you on a date, so can I take you to the movies?,” to which Althoff responded, “Sure.”

“All right. I love you Bobbi, I’ll call you later,” O’Neal said to end the call, to which Althoff replied, “Love you too.”

Marco poked fun at O’Neal’s suggestion for a movie date, to which the former Laker said, “Are you jealous? I stole your girl.”

Both Marco and O’Neal have appeared on Althoff’s podcast, which she launched in April 2023.

O’Neal was a guest on Althoff’s podcast in Sept. 2023. The two discussed the retired athlete’s height, his workout routine and his DJ alter-ego, DJ Diesel during the interview.

Althoff and her husband, Cory Althoff, wed on Jan. 31, 2020, and share two children. In February 2024, Cory filed for divorce. He listed July 4, 2023, as the date of the couple’s separation.

“As sad as I am right now, I am so thankful for the time I got to be his wife,” she wrote on Instagram after the news broke. “While our relationship did not work out as husband and wife, we will always be friends and I will always love him.”

O’Neal’s love life is lesser known these days. Most recently, his personal life made headlines after his ex-wife, Shaunie Henderson, wrote about their marriage in her memoir, UNDEFEATED: Changing the Rules and Winning on My Own Terms.

After Henderson, 49, pondered in the book whether or not she was ever really in love with O’Neal during their marriage, the Inside the NBA host posted a somber message on social media, seemingly referencing the confession from his ex-wife.

“I understand… I wouldn’t have been in love with me either. Wishing you all the best. All love, Shaq,” he wrote on Instagram with the caption, “Trust me I get it.”

Henderson exclusively told PEOPLE two days later that she saw O’Neal’s cryptic message and believes her excerpt was “taken out of context.”

“There was no context to just that one quote that I said, and I think that sadly, people are taking my words out of context,” she said. “I’m not a word girl. I’m a character girl, and since I’ve left the marriage of Shaquille, my character has spoken for itself.”

Henderson and O’Neal are parents to four kids together — Shareef, Amirah, Shaqir and Me’arah — and Shaunie has a son, Myles, from a previous relationship, while Shaq has a daughter, Taahirah, with his former girlfriend, Arnetta Yardbourgh.