The recent Netflix documentary UNTOLD: The Death and Life of Lamar Odom chronicles Lamar Odom’s rise to basketball stardom, marriage to Khloe Kardashian, and battle with drug addiction. Featuring interviews with Odom, his ex-wife Khloe Kardashian, Ron Artest, and Odom’s children, the doc recounts Odom’s 2015 drug overdose at a brothel in Nevada that put the basketball star in a coma for three days.
Kardashian gives a particularly unflinching look at what her marriage to Odom was like when the cameras were off. Their relationship began passionately, with the pair marrying on Sept. 27, 2009, only 30 days after meeting. Though the two seem to have a genuine connection, the doc reveals that Lamar’s motivation for the fast-paced relationship might have been rooted in A-list aspirations. Lamar says in UNTOLD that when he saw the Kardashian lifestyle he knew, “this is where I want to be.”
Odom began partying and using cocaine during the first few years of their marriage. Kardashian says that at the time the drug use seemed, “responsibly done,” and had not yet spiralled out of control. But things took a turn for the worse when Odom was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in December 2011. During this period, Kardashian shares that she was, “fighting every single day, to not let him get caught,” and “didn’t sleep for years,” due to his behavior.
Kardashian says she was advised to stage an intervention for Odom and threaten to divorce him if he did not agree to go to a three-month rehab program. She did so five years and 10 months into their marriage, in July, 2015. When given the ultimatum, Odom opted for divorce and later went to Nevada, where brothels are legal. Lamar checked into the Love Ranch brothel on October 10, 2015 and was found unresponsive on October 13, 2015.
UNTOLD: The Death and Life of Lamar Odom is a slightly misleading title as Odom was never pronounced legally dead, but he came dangerously close. Odom suffered 12 strokes and six heart attacks as a result of taking gas station sexual performance enhancers combined with cocaine.
When Odom suffered the near fatal overdose, his divorce from Kardashian was still pending due to a backlog in the courts. Kardashian took responsibility as Odom’s healthcare proxy and made medical decisions for him while he was in a coma. After his discharge from the hospital, Kardashian continued efforts to rehabilitate Odom until she discovered him using crack again in the bedroom of the home she had rented for him. She filed for divorce again on May 26, 2016.
UNTOLD: The Death and Life of Lamar Odom is now available to watch on Netflix.
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