Khloe Kardashian Reveals Shocking Details of Lamar Odom's Drug Addiction
Khloe Kardashian has disclosed eyebrow-raising new details about her ex-husband Lamar Odom's near-fatal overdose in a revealing Netflix documentary. The 41-year-old television personality stood by the former Los Angeles Lakers star, now 46, during his recovery from drug addiction and overdose in 2015, despite having originally filed for divorce after discovering his numerous infidelities.
Rapid Marriage and Troubled Relationship
Khloe and Lamar married in September 2009 after just thirty days of dating, a whirlwind romance that would soon face serious challenges. She first filed to dissolve their marriage in December 2013, but legal proceedings stalled until the divorce was finally finalized in December 2016. Speaking on Netflix's Untold: The Death & Life Of Lamar Odom, Khloe opened up about the difficult times she and her mother Kris Jenner experienced while searching for Lamar during his drug binges.
Years of Covering Up Addiction
Khloe admitted she felt a profound responsibility for many years to conceal her former husband's addiction problems in order to protect his public image and basketball career. "I was such an enabler without knowing I was an enabler," Khloe recalled during the documentary. "I just felt such a responsibility to cover this up, hold it together and protect him."
The reality star described numerous occasions when Lamar would disappear for twelve hours or even two days at a time, escaping rehabilitation facilities to go on drug benders. "I was either looking for him in alleys or looking for him in motels," she revealed. "He would have tinfoil cutouts or spoons and he was freebasing things and leaving things everywhere. I remember needing to go to hotel rooms to clean up after him."
Infidelity and Overdose Crisis
Khloe's suspicions about Lamar's affairs were confirmed just prior to his near-fatal overdose when she received a shocking phone call from one of his mistresses. The woman was with Lamar in a motel room at the time and told Khloe: "Hi, I've been f***ing your husband. He is so f***ed up and he just keeps wanting money and drugs and I gotta get off this ride. So will you come and pick him up?"
Lamar explained his perspective in the documentary: "One night I [was] going to Big Bear, California, and I'm getting high out of my f***ing mind. The girl that I was with at the time, she must have been so blown back by it that she must have took my phone and contacted my wife."
Spiraling Addiction and Secret Struggles
While discussing Lamar's escalating substance abuse issues, Khloe recalled the moment she realized his drug problems had worsened significantly. She said: "When I really discovered that there was a problem, he was like, 'You cannot tell anyone, I'll lose it all. And if I lose it, where are we going to live?'"
Reflecting on her youth and inexperience at the time, Khloe added: "At the time, I was 24. I'm still trying to figure out my life. I had the show [Keeping Up With The Kardashians], but we weren't making money like that. I remember just keeping all these secrets and feeling horrible about myself. I think youth had a lot to play with it. My first real love and then you just feel for this person."
She described her misguided attempts to help: "You rationalise that this person died and his [Lamar's] dad is a heroin addict. Now let me try to fix you and show you. If I love you enough, I'm going to make you better. But I was fighting every single day either to protect him to not let him get caught, which sounds insane. I was trying to make sure his image, how he looked and how he presented himself to the outward world was still that Lamar Odom. I didn't sleep for years."
Post-Lakers Career Spiral
After Lamar was dropped from the Lakers, Khloe said his addiction began to spiral out of control. One particularly disturbing incident involved finding him locked in a hotel bathroom for four consecutive days while using drugs. "He had no concept of time, miserable, he was horrible because he was so f***** up," she explained.
"He spiraled again and did crazy drugs," she added. "He overdosed a few times. I had to pump his stomach - all privately. I got him help at home and detox centers. We did everything we could."
Marriage Motivations and Power Dynamics
Early in the documentary, both Lamar and Khloe addressed the rapid nature of their engagement, with Lamar proposing just thirty days after they began dating. Lamar's family members claimed in the documentary that he married Khloe primarily to boost his career, a suggestion the sportsman himself acknowledged. "I think that [the wedding] was a power trip for me because you took the power that I had and then the Kardashian power - when you add them... but I wasn't really ready for all that power," he admitted.
Violent Confrontation After Overdose
In one of the most shocking revelations, Khloe admitted that she physically punched Lamar in the face after catching him using drugs in the aftermath of his nearly fatal 2015 overdose. She recalled discovering the former NBA star "smoking crack" in a house she had rented for him, complete with a personal chef and caretaker she had organized.
The reality television star explained: "So at this point, Lamar can barely talk. He can speak a little bit but it's more like, 'Mmhmm,' and everything's delayed. He wasn't able to take a shower on his own. Once you know the smell of crack, it's the most identifiable, disgusting smell, and there's nothing that you can confuse it with. And I remember stopping by the house and I smelled crack."
"I remember slowly tiptoeing up the stairs, he was in his bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed, smoking crack, and I just punched him in his face," she confessed.
Khloe claimed she told Lamar: "I've just put my life on hold to f***ing take care of you." She also believed he didn't own a phone at the time but spotted one in his room, leading her to conclude: "He was playing me so I could continue this lifestyle for him. I said, 'By Monday you need to be out of this house, I'm done, I'm not paying for a thing and I never want to speak to you again'."
Lamar doesn't elaborate extensively about that specific incident in the documentary, although he does comment that it was "f***ed up" someone provided him with drugs knowing he had previously overdosed.
