Lamar Odom’s Ups and Downs Through the Years: Khloe Kardashian Marriage, Drug Overdose, Kids, More

Credit: ABC/Justin Stephens

Lamar Odom’s Ups and Downs Through the Years: Khloe Kardashian Marriage, Drug Overdose, Kids, More

Life has been a roller coaster for Lamar Odom. The former professional basketball player’s career began in 1999 when he was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers. Odom went on to play for the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks over his nearly 15-year career in the NBA. Shortly before he found success on the basketball court, Odom welcomed his first child, a daughter named Destiny, with his then-girlfriend Liza Morales. The twosome also share son Lamar Jr., who was born in 2002. Before Odom and Morales called it quits in 2006, she gave birth to a son named Jayden, who passed away at 6 months old of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Odom’s personal life started making headlines in 2009 when he met Khloé Kardashian. After a whirlwind romance, the pair tied the knot in September 2009. Following a successful wedding episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Odom and Kardashian launched a spinoff called Khloé & Lamar in 2011. The reality series ran for two seasons. While the twosome called it quits in December 2013 after four years of marriage amid Odom’s substance abuse issues, the athlete has only had kind words to say about his ex-wife, who shares daughter True with ex Tristan Thompson. [jwplayer P3vceeYp-l3ahXupL] “There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s the best mother ever because she took care of a 29-year-old man like he was a baby,” Odom told Us Weekly in May 2019. “I had every candy, cookie, juice, champagne, ice cream. I didn’t need anything and that’s just on the small scale. She made this room for me in our home. She’s an incredible homemaker, but all women in that family are.” He added at the time that he will “always” love Kardashian, who briefly withdrew her divorce papers and took care of him after he almost died following an overdose at a brutal in Nevada in 2015. “I’m just a different man now. You know what’s so crazy that you say that because I remember when I came out of the coma after the drug overdose], and I moved in the house in Calabasas in the same housing community that she lives in,” he told Us. “Because I was still damn near fried or just basically getting over being fried, I didn’t even know how to show her that I was empathetic, you know what I’m saying, and sorry and that I still loved her. I didn’t know how to go about it.” Scroll through to revisit Odom’s ups and downs:

Credit: ABC/Justin Stephens

Lamar Odom’s Ups and Downs Through the Years: Khloe Kardashian Marriage, Drug Overdose, Kids, More

Life has been a roller coaster for Lamar Odom. The former professional basketball player’s career began in 1999 when he was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers. Odom went on to play for the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks over his nearly 15-year career in the NBA. Shortly before he found success on the basketball court, Odom welcomed his first child, a daughter named Destiny, with his then-girlfriend Liza Morales. The twosome also share son Lamar Jr., who was born in 2002. Before Odom and Morales called it quits in 2006, she gave birth to a son named Jayden, who passed away at 6 months old of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Odom’s personal life started making headlines in 2009 when he met Khloé Kardashian. After a whirlwind romance, the pair tied the knot in September 2009. Following a successful wedding episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Odom and Kardashian launched a spinoff called Khloé & Lamar in 2011. The reality series ran for two seasons. While the twosome called it quits in December 2013 after four years of marriage amid Odom’s substance abuse issues, the athlete has only had kind words to say about his ex-wife, who shares daughter True with ex Tristan Thompson. [jwplayer P3vceeYp-l3ahXupL] “There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s the best mother ever because she took care of a 29-year-old man like he was a baby,” Odom told Us Weekly in May 2019. “I had every candy, cookie, juice, champagne, ice cream. I didn’t need anything and that’s just on the small scale. She made this room for me in our home. She’s an incredible homemaker, but all women in that family are.” He added at the time that he will “always” love Kardashian, who briefly withdrew her divorce papers and took care of him after he almost died following an overdose at a brutal in Nevada in 2015. “I’m just a different man now. You know what’s so crazy that you say that because I remember when I came out of the coma after the drug overdose], and I moved in the house in Calabasas in the same housing community that she lives in,” he told Us. “Because I was still damn near fried or just basically getting over being fried, I didn’t even know how to show her that I was empathetic, you know what I’m saying, and sorry and that I still loved her. I didn’t know how to go about it.” Scroll through to revisit Odom’s ups and downs:

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1999

Odom was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers during the first round of the 1999 NBA draft.

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June 2006

The athlete’s youngest son, Jayden, died from SIDS when he was 6 months old. Odom has been open about how the loss of his child affected his battle with addiction.

“I used to think about what he would look like if he was still here. Actually, I still think about it almost every day. The doctors told us that the cause was sudden infant death syndrome. It almost sounded made-up. No explanation. No answers. Just … gone. Like that. And you’re supposed to just accept it. You’re supposed to live with that,” Odom wrote in an essay for the Players’ Tribune in 2017. “I think everything probably picked up at that point, with the drugs. Even subconsciously. You don’t even know why you’re doing it at that point. I think subconsciously, you make yourself an addict because of the trauma that you’re going through.”

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August 2009

Odom met Kardashian in August 2009. After 21 days of dating, they got engaged.

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September 2009

Nine days after Odom got down on one knee, he married the reality TV personality on September 27, 2009, in front of Keeping Up With the Kardashians cameras.

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2011

The basketball pro was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in April 2011. The honor came after he won two championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. Less than two years later, his NBA career would be over.

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August 2013

Odom was arrested for driving under the influence in August 2013. At the time of his arrest, he refused to take a chemical sobriety test, according to officers. (Three months later, he struck a plea deal, agreeing to three years of probation.)

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December 2013

After months of speculation about Odom’s sobriety and marriage, Kardashian filed for divorce on December 13, 2013.

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October 2015

Odom nearly died from a drug overdose at a brothel in Nevada in October 2015 after suffering several strokes and heart attacks while he was in a coma. Kardashian, whose divorce from the former NBA pro wasn’t yet finalized, rushed to his side at the time. The Good American cofounder subsequently withdrew the divorce paperwork in order to make medical decisions on his behalf. (Kardashian ultimately refiled in May 2016 and their divorce was finalized in December 2016.)

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March 2017

Almost 18 months after he cheated death, Odom broke his silence on the cover of Us Weekly, admitting that he was abusing cocaine for the last two years of his marriage to Kardashian.

“She knew I was doing cocaine the whole time after that. It was my drug of choice. I’m not going to say she accepted it because that would be the wrong word. Tolerated would be a better word,” he told Us at the time before admitting that he cheated on Kardashian. “If there is one thing I regret when I was married, it was having multiple affairs with different women. That wasn’t the stand-up thing to do. I wish I could have kept my d--k in my pants.”

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May 2019

Odom shared additional details of his marriage and hardships in his memoir, Darkness to Light, which was released in May 2019.

“I had broken my vows with Khloé so many times it’s just impossible for me to remember them all. … I don’t know why Khloé stayed with me,” he wrote in the tell-all before revealing that Kardashian once “beat “the s--t out of” a stripper after she caught her then-husband in bed with another woman in a hotel room.e

Credit: Eric McCandless/ABC

October 2019

Odom attempted to return to basketball with the Big 3 League in June 2019, but was dropped after just a few weeks later. Two months later, the former Dallas Mavericks player joined the cast of season 28 of Dancing With the Stars. He was the second ceremony eliminated during the third week of the competition.

Credit: Lamar Odom

November 2019

Odom proposed to Sabrina Parr in November 2019 after several months of dating. 

Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

November 2020

Days before Odom’s 41st birthday, Parr announced their engagement was off, suggesting he “has some things that he alone has to work through.”

Parr explained via Instagram, “I love him dearly, but I am no longer able to be by his side while [he] seeks the help he so desperately needs. I wish him all the best and I am asking that [you] pray for everyone involved …”