Looking back before he moves forward. Lamar Odom recalled the highs and lows in his basketball career and personal life — namely his marriage to Khloé Kardashian and struggles with substance abuse — in his new TV special, Sex, Drugs and Kardashians, which premiered on Monday, January 2.
After navigating childhood with a father addicted to drugs, Odom, 43, began to dabble with weed in high school after he was caught cheating on the SATs. His partying — and love for women — continued when he started to find success in the NBA in the early 2000s. Things for the then-Los Angeles Lakers star took another turn when his son, Jayden, died of sudden infant death syndrome in 2005.
“His mother let out a cry in that hospital I [would not] have wished on my worst enemy,” Odom recalled. “I had to forgive myself too because when he passed away, I was out partying all night. I wasn’t even in the house. Like a bum. … [But I also wonder] how it would have affected me if I was there, and I had to see him like that. Some things you just have to give to God.”
Odom and his high school love, Liza Morales, had previously welcomed daughter Destiny in 1998 when he was 19 years old and son Lamar Jr. in 2002. As his partying and cheating escalated following Jayden’s passing, Morales ended their relationship for good.
After continuing to date a variety of women — including actress Taraji P. Henson — Odom met Kardashian in 2009. They were married 30 days later.
When asked what “drew” him to Kardashian, Odom named her “power and strength,” explaining: “Her demeanor, just the way she carried herself. And her eyes reminded me of my mother’s eyes.”
The twosome began documenting their life on Keeping Up With the Kardashians and spinoff Khloé & Lamar. Two years into their union, the NBA star was struggling with a trade to the Dallas Mavericks and fell into his old patterns of drug use and meeting up with random women. Kardashian pulled the plug on their marriage after he released a video of himself bragging about cheating when he was high in November 2013.
Odom didn’t sign the divorce documents until fall 2015, holding out hope for a reunion. He knew it was over for good after a tense meetup outside of SoulCycle. After signing the paperwork, he went to the Bunny Ranch in Nevada and nearly died following an overdose in October 2015.
“I think if I would have passed away that day or those nights, I think [my life] would be considered a tragedy. But the triumphant part is that I pulled through it,” Odom said in Monday’s doc. “You know, I’m stronger than ever. I’m more focused than I ever was in my championship years. I’ve kind of got the same focus. I don’t live life like a druggie anymore. … I’m so blessed to be here and it’s a thin line between not being here and being here. … You name me one person who got off drugs and things got worse?”
Odom, whose divorce from Kardashian was finalized in 2016, added that he now has “control” over both his sex and drug addiction.
Scroll through for the biggest takeaways from Sex, Drugs and Kardashians:
Looking back before he moves forward. Lamar Odom recalled the highs and lows in his basketball career and personal life — namely his marriage to Khloé Kardashian and struggles with substance abuse — in his new TV special, Sex, Drugs and Kardashians, which premiered on Monday, January 2.
After navigating childhood with a father addicted to drugs, Odom, 43, began to dabble with weed in high school after he was caught cheating on the SATs. His partying — and love for women — continued when he started to find success in the NBA in the early 2000s. Things for the then-Los Angeles Lakers star took another turn when his son, Jayden, died of sudden infant death syndrome in 2005.
“His mother let out a cry in that hospital I [would not] have wished on my worst enemy,” Odom recalled. “I had to forgive myself too because when he passed away, I was out partying all night. I wasn’t even in the house. Like a bum. … [But I also wonder] how it would have affected me if I was there, and I had to see him like that. Some things you just have to give to God.”
Odom and his high school love, Liza Morales, had previously welcomed daughter Destiny in 1998 when he was 19 years old and son Lamar Jr. in 2002. As his partying and cheating escalated following Jayden’s passing, Morales ended their relationship for good.
After continuing to date a variety of women — including actress Taraji P. Henson — Odom met Kardashian in 2009. They were married 30 days later.
When asked what “drew” him to Kardashian, Odom named her “power and strength,” explaining: “Her demeanor, just the way she carried herself. And her eyes reminded me of my mother’s eyes.”
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The twosome began documenting their life on Keeping Up With the Kardashians and spinoff Khloé & Lamar. Two years into their union, the NBA star was struggling with a trade to the Dallas Mavericks and fell into his old patterns of drug use and meeting up with random women. Kardashian pulled the plug on their marriage after he released a video of himself bragging about cheating when he was high in November 2013.
Odom didn’t sign the divorce documents until fall 2015, holding out hope for a reunion. He knew it was over for good after a tense meetup outside of SoulCycle. After signing the paperwork, he went to the Bunny Ranch in Nevada and nearly died following an overdose in October 2015.
“I think if I would have passed away that day or those nights, I think [my life] would be considered a tragedy. But the triumphant part is that I pulled through it,” Odom said in Monday’s doc. “You know, I’m stronger than ever. I’m more focused than I ever was in my championship years. I’ve kind of got the same focus. I don’t live life like a druggie anymore. … I’m so blessed to be here and it’s a thin line between not being here and being here. … You name me one person who got off drugs and things got worse?”
Odom, whose divorce from Kardashian was finalized in 2016, added that he now has “control” over both his sex and drug addiction.
Scroll through for the biggest takeaways from Sex, Drugs and Kardashians:
Credit: Asset ID: 1003184q ‘Whiteout’ Film Premiere, Los Angeles, America – 09 Sep 2009 Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom By: Picture Perfect/Shutterstock
Meeting Khloe
“Ron Artest was having a welcome to L.A. party, I was sitting the V.I.P. … I was there with another woman, a really attractive woman, and I see this girl. I recognize Rob Kardashian, but I didn’t know who Khloé was at that time,” Odom recalled of meeting Khloé in 2009. “I [let her know] who I was and it’s crazy because after 30 days, we’d be married. That’s spooky.”
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Lamar Details Personal and Business Relationship With Kris
“I used to call her ma. She showed a lot of love. She was cool. I loved her. We all got into business. It was a family business — you know that, Harvey,” Odom told TMZ’s Harvey Levin of Kardashian’s mother, Kris Jenner. “I’m comfortable enough [for her to be my manager]. I’m happy enough to do it. … I made some money. I came out on the positive.”
He added: “I don’t think people really give them credit for their family dynamic. Family is going to go through s—t and I think that they’ve handled their s—t phenomenally good.”
Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Filming ‘Khloe & Lamar’
Odom called the spinoff series a “blessing,” adding, “I was an amazing basketball player, but I know me marrying Khloé Kardashian gives me relevance in so many ways in the entertainment world. … I knew what I signed up for. I was doing business with my wife. It’s her business, so I’m making it my business.”
The athlete called the Lakers “very supportive” of his decision to film the show, revealing he “asked” Kobe Bryant for his thoughts. “He was just like, ‘You know, if you bring it, [we] don’t care.’ And I wound up winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award, so I knew he had a lot of respect for it. … That was the happiest I’ve ever been in my adult life. … She got me everything I wanted.”
Credit: Henry Lamb/Photowire/BEI/Shutterstock
What Khloe Knew About Lamar’s Drug Use
Odom was in a “dark place” when he was traded to the Mavericks while coping with the death of his cousin in 2011. “I got there and I just can’t make a shot. … Nothing was going right,” the basketball player, who was cut before the end of the season, recalled.
As his career on the court came to a crashing halt, Odom turned back to drugs. “Drugs — that was my girlfriend. I had a wife and cocaine,” he said. “For part of my marriage, I had to tell [Khloé]. You can’t hide that forever. … She was hurt, but Khloé was a good wife. She wasn’t dismissive or [saying], ‘Get away from me.’ … She was protective and wanted to protect me even more. She [stood by me]. I mean behind the scenes, I put her through some s—t. Like s—t that y’all don’t know. … The stories that y’all don’t know is, like, really crazy.”
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Cheating on Khloe
Odom admitted that he had “these random women coming out” of the woodwork. “It seemed like they all came out at one time. I’m having full-blown relationships on the road. My wife is Khloé Kardashian, I’m bugging. I’m laughing out of embarrassment right now — how [did I think I] was going to get out of that one? … Like, what could I actually tell Khloé to leave her for a couple of hours to even, like, leave to go do drugs with some random woman? I’m going so heavy with drugs, [one] woman actually gets into my phone and actually calls Khloé and goes, ‘You gotta come get him. He’s f—king going crazy. He’s gonna kill himself.’ … They took me to go get help that night.”
In September 2013, Odom was caught by Kardashian with a woman named Polina Polonsky.
“I wound up getting in contact with Khloé and asked her, ‘[Did that really] happen?’ She was laughing about it, like, ‘Yeah, Lamar I had to beat some bitches’ ass.’ … Obviously, she had to have somebody tailing me or following me,” Odom recalled.
According to the doc, the “final straw” for Kardashian was a social media video of a high Odom rapping about cheating on her.
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Lamar Alleges Kris Told Him Khloe Would Be a SoulCycle
Two years after Kardashian filed for divorce, Odom was photographed trying to talk to her outside of an exercise class.
“As far as I can remember — I’m a little foggy — but as far as I can remember, she kind of hooked it up for me to meet Khloé down at SoulCycle. I get down there and she kind of treated me like she didn’t know me, which was hurtful a little bit. She was kind of, like, making a scene and then, like, paparazzi came out of nowhere. So I’m hurt by that. Then it kind of came out that I tried to put my hands on her or something like that — then I’m really hurt. I got a little defensive.”
The doc then cut to footage of an angry Odom outside of TMZ Offices in August 2015, yelling about how the outlet made him look like he was “stalking” his ex.
When asked whether he now thinks he was “set up” by Jenner, Odom isn’t sure, responding: “What would you be setting up? … What would you get out of that? Trying to ruin me or not make me want to come around no more or have people think about me a certain way?”
Two months after the incident, Odom finally signed the divorce documents, headed to Nevada and went on his near-fatal bender.
(Jenner denied that she told Odom where Kardashian would be when he first repeated the allegations in his 2019 book.)
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The Night at the Bunny Ranch
During his October 2015 visit to the legal brothel, Odom noted that he handed over his credit card and said to charge $75,000 in an effort to “overpay” to try to keep his location secret.
Odom was found unresponsive and in a coma for several days before he woke up and saw Kardashian in his hospital room.
“Khloé, you know, she wiped my ass. It don’t get realer than that,” he recalled. “She would bring me pictures of my mother, my grandmother, help me with my memory. … I couldn’t show how I really felt. I was hardly even talking. I could hardly say, ‘Thank you, Khloé.’ I could think it, but I couldn’t express it.”
He concluded: “I wish at that time I was more cognitive to let her know that how much I appreciate her for that. I couldn’t show how I really felt. I knew it had to be terribly frustrating for her.”
Odom insisted that he didn’t knowingly do cocaine at the ranch, alleging that he was slipped drugs and claiming Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof, who died in 2018, wanted him dead. “I went there. I didn’t do drugs that night. … I got there, had the drink and woke up three days later ripping tubes out of my neck, not knowing how I got there,” he claimed. “They told me I was going to never walk or talk again. I walked into this building and I’m talking to you right now. … This is God’s plan. I’m his son and I’m just living.”
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Relapsing Again and Finally Getting Clean
When his divorce from Kardashian was finalized, Odom was struggling with money. In addition to blowing cash on drugs and prostitutes, he had been funding the lives of friends and family members, including his dad. Odom sold his Lakers championship rings, admitting he couldn’t recall how much he made as he started doing drugs again. (Years later, a fan approached him in the crowd at a Lakers game and revealed he had the rings and returned them for free.)
“That shows you how strong addiction is. We see it all the time. In Hollywood, we see it f—king all the time,” he said. “I’m just one of the lucky ones that it didn’t take.”
Odom said his “love for life” and wanting to tell “the Lord thank you for sparing him” has helped him be sober today.
“The thought of cocaine, as quick as me just saying it, is as quick as it left my mind to do it. I’m from the street, like, I don’t even know how a motherf—ker can put his self in the mix of any cocaine with the s—t that’s going on right now — all this fentanyl and stuff like that. It ain’t even worth it,” he said.
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Lamar Is Still Open to a Reconciliation With Khloe
Odom said that no one but Kardashian has ever made him feel “secure” enough to get married.
“Do I ever think I could be in love like that again? That could possibly happen. … If I open myself up enough,” he said, confirming that he would “of course” get back together with Kardashian if she ever gave him a shot. He, however, no longer feels he can or should reach out. “I’m not a loser and I felt like I lost. I would love to just take Khloé out to dinner. … [But] I’m too shy and I’m a Scorpio and I hate being told no or being denied. I’m afraid.”
Credit: MediaPunch/Shutterstock; Courtesy Tristan Thompson/Instagram
Lamar on Tristan
Kardashian began dating Tristan Thompson in 2016, welcoming daughter True in 2018 and a son in July 2022. Thompson has been caught cheating on Kardashian several times, including when he discovered he was expecting a baby with another woman as he encouraged the reality star to move forward with having a baby boy via surrogate during fall 2021.
“When she gets hurt, of course that hurts me. I think what hurts me more is that it’s not my place to protect her. I can only protect her if she says, ‘Lamar, I need your help with this,’” he said.
