"Cursed me out cause I wouldn't talk": Dwight Howard's ex-Royce Reed claims a married Shaquille O'Neal once flirted with her

Dwight Howard's ex-girlfriend and baby mama Royce Reed claimed that Shaquille O'Neal flirted with her when he was still married to Shaunie Anderson. Reed made headlines over the last few months for revealing details about her relationship with Howard, who's embroiled in a sexual assault case.

In an interview with Carlos King on YouTube, Reed opened up about her experience on the reality television series "Basketball Wives." That's where she discussed Shaq's flirty texts to her when he was still married to Shaunie, who's a producer of the show.

"I had sent her a thread where her ex-husband had been texting me," Reed said.

"Nothing ever happened. He actually cursed me out cause I didn't want to talk to him. I wanted everything out to be in the open. I wanted her to see everything so if anything happened or said, she'd knew it wasn't true."

Royce Reed clarified that Shaquille O'Neal started flirting with her when she was still a dancer for the Miami Heat. Reed joined "Basketball Wives" from Season 1 to 4, which was from 2010 to 2013. She was a cheerleader for the Heat during the 2006-07 NBA season.

"This was when I was dancing," Reed said. "It came down to how he got your number, and he had gotten it from one of the ball boys. How did the ball boy get my number? Because we used to all go out and hang at parties like we were cool."

Reed added that she confided with Shaunie O'Neal about the matter during filming of "Basketball Wives." However, she felt that she couldn't trust Shaunie, as other cast members of the show had started asking her about what happened. Despite what happened, Reed lasted for four seasons.

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Shaquille O'Neal responds to Royce Reed's claims

What did Shaquille O'Neal say to Royce Reed?

Royce Reed's claims quickly went viral, and its video was posted by The Neighborhood Talk on Instagram.

Shaquille O'Neal quickly responded to Reed by implying that she needs money. It should be pointed out that O'Neal didn't deny her claims.

"Uh somebody needs money," Shaq commented.

Shaquille O'Neal responds to Royce Reed.

Shaquille O'Neal was married to Shaunie from 2002 to 2011 and have four children together. O'Neal was candid about his infidelity during their marriage last year in an episode of "The Big Podcast with Shaq" and even called himself a serial cheater.

O'Neal was with the Miami Heat from 2004 to 2008, and Royce Reed was a dancer when he was there. Another interesting fact about the situation is that Reed was in a previous relationship with Dwight Howard. They have a son together named Braylon, born on Nov. 18, 2007.

That makes the beef between Shaq and Dwight a little deeper if the LA Lakers legend indeed flirted with Reed.

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