Shaquille O'Neal Says He's 'Fine' After Hospitalization for Hip Replacement Surgery

Shaquille O'Neal is on the mend! The NBA on TNT star sparked some concern among fans on Sunday when he posted a photo to Twitter showing him laying down in a hospital bed with an IV attached to his arm. ET has learned that O'Neal had hip replacement surgery last Wednesday, March 15, and is now at home resting.

The basketball pro captioned the post with a message to his co-hosts, Candace Parker and Ernie Johnson, telling them he's "always watching" them, even in the hospital. "Miss y'all," O'Neal added to the post.

On Monday evening, Shaq took to Instagram to joke about the procedure and assure those worried about his health that he's "fine." 

"To all the people who are concerned. First let me start off by saying thank you. And lastly i am fine. Just had to get some BBL work done aka #hipreplacement. but yes i am fine no need to worry," he wrote. 

O'Neal, who celebrated his 51st birthday earlier this month, recently opened up to ET about making his health a priority. In December, the Shaq-tacular Spectacular host shared his 40-pound weight loss and plans to lose 20 more pounds after getting some revealing blood work back. The results prompted him to not only get a checkup but get on a clean diet.

"I got a couple people involved -- It’s all about eating right. I got some blood work done, a friend of mine called me and said, 'You're fat,' and she gave me this guy’s name, and he did some blood work, and you know, 'cause I was the athlete -- I wasn't a salad eater. I won't pay attention to any of that. I don't care about none of that," O'Neal said. "I didn't know what the difference between a carb and a protein, at 50 years old I never knew. So, he was saying you can't do this, you can't do that, more vegetables, my iron's low. And once I just started changing those certain things, it dropped." 

He continued, "Plus the supplements I'm taking, and the shakes I'm drinking, the weight just fell off. I'm not at 100 percent ninja mode yet. I'm still 75 percent."

Despite a few cheat days, O'Neal has stuck to his diet and exercise routine. As for his advice for people who don't have access to a chef and trainer as he does, the athlete simply said, start by walking.

"Start off, if you can, by walking 30 minutes a day. A lot of people can’t do that 'cause I know, you got the kids, you gotta get to work. But if you can, start off by walking 30 minutes a day," he said. "Put your headphones on, put on your favorite song, 30 minutes a day."

Next, eliminate your vices, which for O'Neal, are bread and soda.

"Then you gotta eliminate something that you love. Eliminate it. I haven’t had soda for a while. I gotta eliminate bread and soda, so, if I could eliminate bread or soda, I think I could get the Marky Wahlberg look. I want to be known as the Black Mark Wahlberg."

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