Khloe Kardashian’s ex Lamar Odom reveals harrowing new details about his struggles with drug addiction originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Khloe Kardashian’s ex-husband, Lamar Odom, is shedding more light on his harrowing struggles with drug addiction.
The former Los Angeles Lakers star, who won two NBA championships and was given the Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2011, leaned heavily on the “Keeping up with the Kardashians” star after he was found unconscious in a Crystal, Nevada brothel — about 60 miles from Las Vegas — in 2015.
Khloe filed for divorce from the NBA star in 2013, but put the legal proceedings on hold to take care of Odom after his near-death experience.
On the Wednesday, Feb. 25 episode of “Cousins with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady,” Odom shared new details about his experience and his road to recovery.
For starters, he firmly maintains that he didn’t willingly take any drugs at the Bunny Ranch brothel.
“What I’ve been through, being poisoned in that brothel, cause I aint have drugs that day, I didn’t take no drugs that day,” he said. “I was living in Vegas for like a week and a half… I just signed divorce papers, I said, ‘I’m going to the Bunny Ranch.'”
Odom did, however, admit that he was “mad” on the day because he didn’t have access to cocaine.
That specific drug and women “go hand and hand,” he explained.
“I went, got there, gave them the black card. $75,000 I put down,” he recalled.
He then sat down on a bed, had a drink and woke up three days later in a haze.
After waking up in the hospital, Odom was unable to speak.
Unaware of what happened, doctors told him he had spent three days in a coma.
Initially treated at a Nevada hospital, Odom was later transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
“They [had] to change my Pampers every third or fourth hour,” Odom recalled. “There were like 3 or 4 times when my family got called into the hospital room to say, ‘Y’all might want to say your final goodbyes. He’s on his fourth stroke,” Odom said, before adding, “Medically, I have every reason not to be here.”
It took him two months to speak again.
Today, Odom says he’s been sober from cocaine for about two years. However, he still smokes pot.
“That’s a drug,” he said. “I don’t really like alcohol, I never really did it, so that’s never really been my problem,” Kardashian’s ex added.
MORE: Ex-NBA player says dating Khloe Kardashian ‘derailed’ his career
Lamar Odom went back to rehab in January
Despite walking away from cocaine, Odom’s still facing struggles in his present-day life.
“I’ve been clean off of everything for 14 days,” Odom said on the podcast. “It feels like a year.”
“Clean and sober is no alcohol,” he added.
It has to be a lifestyle change.
The former NBA star entered rehab last month after being arrested on Jan. 17 on suspicion of driving under the influence, per “People.”
The arrest happened in the same place where his infamous 2015 drug overdose took place — Nevada. While traveling in Vegas, Odom was accused of driving more than 41 miles per hour over the speed limit and for making an improper lane change/or failing to maintain his lane.
He later entered into a 30-day rehab program in Los Angeles to address marijuana use and prevent a lapse, per the same outlet.
“After a recent incident, he took a step back to reflect and address triggers he’s been dealing with,” his manager, Gina Rodriguez, told the outlet, adding that Odom made the “personal decision” to enter the treatment center on his own.
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