Lamar Odom opens up about the downward spiral into drug and sex addiction that has cost him his marriage to Khloé Kardashian in the new Fox special, TMZ Presents: Lamar Odom: Sex, Drugs and Kardashians.
The 43-year-old former professional basketball player opened up about his past substance abuse struggles, cheating scandals and tumultuous relationship with the 38-year-old reality star during an interview with TMZ founder Harvey Levin.
“Drugs, that was my girlfriend,” Odom told Levin, 72, in the trailer for the special. “I had a wife… and cocaine.”
Lamar Odom opens up about his downward spiral into drugs and his marriage to Khloé Kardashian in the new Fox special TMZ Presents: Lamar Odom: Sex, Drugs and Kardashians. (Fox)
“Khloé knew you were using, right?” Levin asked.
TMZ PRESENTS: LAMAR ODOM: SEX, DRUGS AND KARDASHIANS – FOX
“For part of our marriage, I had to tell her,” the two-time NBA champion admitted. “You can’t hide that.”
Levin noted that The Kardashians star – who was married to Odom from 2009 to 2016 – “supported” him.
“I did a lot to her behind the scenes,” Odom admitted.
“The things you think you all know are crazy. But the stories that you all don’t know are really crazy.”
In an exclusive clip from the Fox News Digital special, Odom opened up about his near-fatal overdose at a Nevada brothel in 2015.
“Lamar is in a coma on a ventilator,” recalled TMZ executive producer Charles Latibeaudiere. “He suffers 12 strokes and six heart attacks.”
“The guy is only 35 and on the brink of death.”
“All of my doctors who were all around me when the incident happened were like I was a walking miracle,” Odom said.
“Once I got out of it, I should never walk or speak again.”
TMZ Presents: Lamar Odom: Sex, Drugs and Kardashians airs Monday at 9 p.m. ET on FOX.
Here’s what you need to know about Lamar Odom ahead of the special.
Early life
Odom has previously opened up about his difficult childhood and strained relationship with his late father, who was a heroin addict. (Getty Images)
Odom was born in South Jamaica, Queens, New York. His father Joseph was a heroin addict and was largely absent for most of Odom’s childhood. In his memoir From Darkness to Light, Odom wrote of his father, “I didn’t know it then, but he gave me a blueprint to follow, and the things I hated him for, I would become.”
Odom lost his mother, Cathy, to colon cancer when he was 12 years old. The future professional athlete transitioned between three different high schools during his teenage years. He committed to playing basketball at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas before being ruled ineligible after it was discovered that he had accepted over $5,000 in money from one of the team’s boosters.
He went to the University of Rhode Island for a year before coming to the 1999 NBA Draft.
Rise to NBA Star
Odom became a two-time NBA champion during his tenure with the LA Lakers. (Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)
Odom played for the Los Angeles Clippers from 1999 to 2003. During his time on the team, he was suspended twice for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy. After leaving the Clippers as a restricted free agent, Odom joined the Miami Heat, where he played for a year before moving to the Los Angeles Lakers.
During Odom’s seven-year tenure with the Lakers, he had his greatest success on the court. Odom won the NBA championship in 2009 and 2011 and was named sixth NBA Man of the Year in 2011. He won a bronze medal as part of the US men’s national basketball team at the 2004 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the 2010 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
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In his memoirs, Odom revealed that he wore a prosthetic penis to pass a drug test so he could compete in the Olympics.
After joining the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, Odom’s career began to decline. In 2012, he returned to the Clippers for a year before retiring from professional basketball in 2014.
Relationship with Liza Morales, children and the tragic death of his young son Jayden
The former basketball player is father to daughter Destiny, 24, and son Lamar Jr., 20. His son Jayden died of SIDS when he was just 6 months old. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Prior to his marriage to Kardashian, Odom was in a long-term relationship with stylist Liza Morales, with whom he had daughter Destiny, 24, and sons Lamar Jr., 20, and Jayden (2005-2006).
In June 2006, Jayden tragically died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) at just 6½ months old. In a 2017 interview with the New Zealand Herald, Odom recalled partying the night Jayden died.
“I received a call that changed my life,” he told the outlet. “It was the summer of 2006. I’d been partying all night and didn’t go home.”
“My son Jayden was 6 months old at the time. He was at home in his bed. I should have been at home with him.
Odom went on to say he still thinks of Jayden every day. He explained that his despair over his son’s death was the catalyst that plunged him into escalating cocaine abuse.
“I think at that point things probably got better with the drugs,” Odom said. “Even unconsciously. You don’t even know why you’re doing it at this point. I think subconsciously you are addicting yourself because of the trauma you are going through.”
Married to Khloé Kardashian
Odom and Kardashian tied the knot in 2009 after a month of dating. (The Associated Press)
Odom and Kardashian met in August 2009 at a party hosted by the basketball star’s Lakers teammate Ron Artest. They married on September 27, 2009, after just a month of dating, in a televised wedding that was broadcast on the E! Reality Series Keeping Up With Kardashians. Odom became a household name after joining the hugely successful show following his marriage to Kardashian.
Odom and Kardashian’s popularity as a couple led them to star in their own spin-off series, titled Khloé & Lamar, which ran for two seasons from 2011-2012. The pair also launched a unisex fragrance, Unbreakable, during the show.
Odom’s cocaine use continued throughout his marriage to Kardashian. Though he initially tried to hide it from the Good American founder, he told Us Weekly in 2017 that she caught him using drugs in 2011.
The two starred in Keeping Up With the Kardashians and their own spin-off series Khloé and Lamar. (Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images)
“She knew I was doing cocaine all the time after that,” he told the outlet. “It was my drug of choice.”
“I’m not going to say she accepted it because that would be the wrong word,” he added. “Tolerated would be a better word.”
He also admitted to being involved in “multiple affairs,” explaining that his reality show fame “opened that doorway to other women who probably wouldn’t have been interested in me.”
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“It wasn’t the stand-up thing,” admitted Odom.
The couple’s marriage continued to deteriorate, and in the summer of 2013, rumors of a split began to circulate. Odom was arrested for DUI in August of that year and later struck a plea deal in which he agreed to three-year probation.
On December 13, 2013, Kardashian filed for divorce after less than four years of marriage.
Odom’s near-fatal overdose of 2015
Odom nearly died in 2015 after a catastrophic overdose. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
In October 2015, Odom nearly died of a catastrophic overdose at the Love Ranch brothel in Crystal, Nevada. After kidney failure, several heart attacks and 12 strokes, he was in a coma. At the time, Kardashian and Odom’s divorce was still ongoing and she rushed to the hospital to be by his side.
Two weeks later, Kardashian withdrew her divorce petition. At the time, she told People magazine that the two hadn’t reconciled, but that she decided to stop the divorce so she could make medical decisions for him.
“I’ve withdrawn the divorce because there’s no rush for it,” she said. “For medical decisions and a bunch of other things, it’s just wiser that it’s put on hold. But that doesn’t mean I’m back with Lamar. It’s not even in our brains to think about the fact that we’re in a relationship. Only time will tell.”
Divorce from Khloé Kardashian
The former professional athlete said losing Kardashian was the biggest regret of his life. (Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic)
Odom was discharged from the hospital in January 2016 and Kardashian continued to help him with his recovery. However, the “Kardashian Confessional” writer filed for divorce again in May 2016, and their divorce was finalized in 2016.
While starring on Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year, Odom said his failed marriage to Kardashian was the biggest mistake of his life.
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“When I married Khloé, there were a lot of things that I did wrong in our relationship,” Lamar said during the show’s February Valentine’s Day episode.
“I never intended to hurt her,” he added.
The amateur boxer, who is now six years sober, said he still wants to reconcile with his ex-wife.
“It would be a blessing just to be in her presence,” he said. “But she has the right to never want to see me again because of the things I did to her.”
“Just saying her name brightens my day.”
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Ashley Hume is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @ashleyhume