One step at a time. Lamar Odom is trying to get back on track after making headlines last month for getting kicked off a Delta Airlines flight. The athlete's trainer Oneil Pryce exclusively tells Us Weekly that the star is sober and shaping up by working out.
"From what I know [he's not drinking], because right now he is focused and that is the state I have him in right now," Pryce, the owner and founder of Real Deal Fitness gym, tells Us. "I have been letting him know that [this] is going to be a rough road, a hard road. And one thing he has to do is make sure that the partying, the drinking, all of that stuff, is going to be tough on his body. So right now, he has been drinking his water, staying low key and pretty much staying out of sight of everybody else, all of the negative stuff."
Pryce says that he is a family friend and offered to train the dad of three, 36. "I reached out to him and we have been friends for a whole long time," he says. "He really wants to get his life back together. He's really trying hard and that is what we are working on right now … keeping his mental state high."
"He has been through a lot," the Long Island–based trainer adds. "He [has] certain people around him that I am trying to get him away from, and just keeping him positive."
Pryce is taking things slow with Odom. The former NBA player, who is currently settling his divorce with Khloé Kardashian, exercises for 30 minutes at a time — for now.
"I have to go really, really easy with him and build his strength back up. He might look physically fit on the outside, but on the inside, you have to understand, his liver has been through a lot, his kidney has been through a lot, and his heart has been through a lot," Pryce explains.
As previously reported, Odom was hospitalized for several months after overdosing in a Nevada brothel in October 2015. Kardashian supported him during the difficult time, but recently cut him off after his reported drug relapse.
"More than anything, Khloé wants to be in Lamar’s life, but only if he gets healthy," an insider exclusively told Us in June.
According to Pryce, Odom is doing just that. "I'm just trying to show him it is one day at a time … Just two, three months ago, people were saying you weren't going to walk again, you weren't going to live. So, just to be where you are right now, you are doing good. And as far as workouts, he is actually making great strides," Pryce tells Us. "This is a gleam of hope, just a gleam [that] can get [him] through the darkest hours."
