Cam Newton Raises Eyebrows After Reality Star Natalie Nunn Reveals Shaquille O’Neal Bought Her a $21K Car at USC
While Shaquille O’Neal’s sheer size may have struck fear in his opponents, he has always shown a big heart and has been quite generous with those really close to him. Just ask reality TV star Natalie Nunn! ‘The Big Diesel’ apparently treated her to a rather big gift: Her first car.
Nunn, while on NFL star Cam Newton’s Funky Friday Podcast, thrived, as expected, in front of the camera, completely stealing the show. Well, for the majority of their conversation, it felt that Nunn controlled the direction of their discussion.
Eventually, it shifted to another reality TV personality, Nicole ‘Hoopz’ Alexander, who gained fame through her involvement on shows such as Flavor of Love and I Love Money. Her popularity skyrocketed when she began to date NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal around 2012 to 2013.
Newton brought up the past relationship between Shaq and Alexander, which led to an interesting revelation from Nunn. Apparently, O’Neal acquainted himself with her during her time in college and helped her out. “Shaq bought me my first car,” Nunn said.
As soon as those words left Nunn’s mouth, Newton’s expression instantly changed. He instinctively asked, “You dated Shaq?” Of course, Nunn put that narrative to bed by stating she never had such a relationship with the four-time NBA champion.
“He bought me a bug. It was a convertible little bug,” Nunn revealed.
The car was a 2004 Volkswagen New Beetle, which cost over $21,000. Nunn’s revelation became more confusing for Newton once she revealed exactly when O’Neal purchased the car for her.
“I was in college. Shaq was playing for the Lakers, and I was at USC,” Nunn added.
Of course, Nunn had a sports connection, which means Shaq and her paths would have crossed. She was a member of the Trojans’ women’s soccer team in 2004. USC isn’t far from Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center), the home of the Lakers. It was easy for Lakers players to attend collegiate games.
That fact wasn’t enough to change Newton’s skepticism, though. “Something isn’t adding up,” he said.
At the time, O’Neal was still married to Shaunie Henderson. It isn’t a secret that O’Neal had plenty of affairs during his marriage. Newton’s reaction insinuated that Nunn must’ve been one of the women O’Neal was seeing secretly if he was getting her gifts.
However, Nunn refuted the claim, leaving his questions unanswered. It could very well be that Shaq just did it because he was feeling generous.
A lot about O’Neal has changed since those years, but giving student-athletes vehicles to help them out isn’t one of them. In September 2025, O’Neal gave Tamara Humphries a car, which she needed to travel between home and her classes. The gesture was extremely thoughtful and eased a heavy burden on the student athlete.
