Before moving forward, he takes a step back. In his new TV special, “Sex, Drugs and Kardashians,” which debuted on Monday, January 2, Lamar Odom reminisced the highs and lows of his basketball career and personal life, including his marriage to Khlo Kardashian and issues with substance abuse.
Odom, 43, struggled through childhood with a drug-addicted father before starting to experiment with marijuana in high school after getting caught lying on the SATs. When he began to experience success in the NBA in the early 2000s, he kept on partying and loving women. When his son Jayden passed away from sudden infant death syndrome in 2005, things for the then-Los Angeles Lakers star took a new turn.
In the hospital, his mother cried, and Odom remembered thinking, “I [would not] have wanted that on my worst enemy.” Since I was out drinking all night when he died, I also had to forgive myself. Not even inside the house was I. like a loser. But I also consider how I might have felt if I had been present and had to witness him in that way. You simply have to offer God certain things.
Odom and Liza Morales, his high school sweetheart, welcomed their daughter’s Destiny and Lamar Jr. in 1998 and 2002, respectively. Morales permanently ended their relationship after Jayden’s death, when his partying and cheating increased.
Odom met Kardashian in 2009 after continuing to date a variety of women, including actress Taraji P. Henson.
Thirty Days Later, They Got Married.
Odom cited Kardashian’s strength and power when asked what attracted him to her, stating: “Her manner, just the way she handled herself.” She also had eyes that made me think of my mum.
The pair started sharing details about their lives on Khlo & Lamar, a spinoff of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. The NBA player struggled with a trade to the Dallas Mavericks two years into their relationship and reverted to his former drug-using and random woman-meeting habits. After he published a video of himself boasting about cheating while intoxicated in November 2013, Kardashian ended their marriage.
Odom delayed signing the divorce papers until the fall of 2015, hoping for a reconciliation. After a stressful meeting outside of SoulCycle, he knew it was done forever. He proceeded to the Bunny Ranch in Nevada after signing the papers, where he overdosed and nearly passed away in October 2015.
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I believe that people would have viewed my life as tragic if I had died on those days or nights. But the happy side is that I survived, Odom stated in Monday’s documentary.
You see, I’m more powerful than ever. I have never been more concentrated than I am right now. I think my focus is similar to yours. I no longer lead a drug-dependent lifestyle. It’s a fine line between being here and not being here, so I feel quite lucky to be. Identify one person for whom things worsened after quitting drugs.
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Odom also said he now has control over his drug and sex addictions. His divorce from Kardashian was finalized in 2016.