Netflix’s documentary series UNTOLD has released the first instalment of its newest season, focusing on Lamar Odom’s high-profile drug and alcohol binge that left him in a coma.
Odom, a former two-time NBA champion, became an even more well-known celebrity in part due to his marriage to Khloe Kardashian and subsequent reality TV appearances.
The pair tied the knot just a month after meeting in 2009.
The doc sees Odom discuss being found unconscious at the Love Ranch brothel in Nevada in 2015, leading to a coma in which he suffered 12 strokes and six heart attacks.
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His ex-wife, Kardashian, speaks in the Netflix documentary about the process of how she ended up taking care of him during his coma despite the pair being separated at the time, including her interactions with Odom’s father, Joe.
Joe was a heroin addict, with Odom being candid about his father’s struggles with addiction in the past.
Speaking to Tracey McGrady and Vince Carter on the Cousins podcast, Odom was asked where he thinks his struggles with addiction began, saying that he started smoking marijuana at 14 after his mother died.
He went on to add: “My father was a heroin addict. If you start with pot and it doesn't get [you] high no more, you're like ‘maybe I'll try cocaine.’”
Odom's stroke took place due to an overdose, leaving the NBA star in a coma for several days. Kardashian and Odom were separated at the time and in the process of divorcing one another, however, it was yet to be finalised.
In the documentary, Kardashian claimed that she took over care because Odom’s father Joe had suggested turning off his life support machine.
She said: “His dad was there, I assume thought he’s now the beneficiary to Lamar and Joe just said ‘don’t put him on life support, turn those machines off’.
“I remember walking in around that time and I kid you not it was a scene out of a movie, I was like ‘sorry Joe, I’m still his wife, what do you need?’”
Kardashian said that Odom's dad asked for ‘$100 and a pair of Nikes’ and that after she gave him this he ‘never came back’.
She added: “This is my husband. Through sickness and health, I have to be there for him. I have to show up for him. And I was gonna do everything I could to make sure that he had the best fighting chance. I just trusted myself more than I trusted anyone in his circle.”
Joe died in 2021, with Odom posting on Instagram: “Thank you to everyone who extended love and prayers to me during my time of bereavement ❤️ I appreciate every single one of you for sending me good.
“Life is not promised. My pops and I had our differences but at the end of the day I knew he loved me and I loved him and that's really all that matters. I encourage you to take some time and make amends with family and friends, tell someone you love them, smile a little more, laugh out loud, give your heart to those that deserve it because NOTHING is promised but death.”
The Kardashian sister was left in charge of Odom's care after his father left and she revealed that, at first, anyone who knew her at-the-time husband was allowed into the hospital room to visit.
Explaining why this changed, Kardashian said: “I had filters on who I would let into the hospital, that’s very true. At the very beginning I would let people come in and then I found out like three of them were drug dealers that were wanting to collect money rummaging through his personal bags.
“When that happened is when I said, ‘we’re on lockdown, whoever wants to come I need to authorise them being here.’”
Liza Morales, Odom’s high school sweetheart and mother to three of his children, recounted visiting with their ‘whole family’, saying: “Kris Jenner’s bodyguard was like ‘before you come onto this floor, you guys gotta sign this’.
“I was looking at him and he was like ‘not you’, and I was like I thought so. They didn’t give me the NDA but they gave it to his whole family.
“It got so bad that somebody must have told the cops because the Vegas PD came upstairs with like five cops, two German shepherds, it was very intimidating. I think it was to keep the peace, but it made it worse, it was very triggering.”
After coming out of his coma Odom described an upsetting reality of his everyday life, saying: “I couldn’t hold my bowels. Yeah, I won two championships. I’m Lamar Odom, can’t walk, can’t talk.
“They come in to check my diaper. My wife, she helped wipe some of the sh*t up.”
Kardashian and Odom ultimately finalised their divorce in 2016.
UNTOLD: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom is available to stream on Netflix now.
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Topics: Netflix, Celebrity, TV and Film, TV, Film, Documentaries, US News
Michael Slavin