The Kardashians and Jenners face a lot of public scrutiny by choosing to live their lives in front of the camera, but it’s been proven over and over again that the attention doesn’t stop with just the members of the family. The romantic partners of the reality TV stars are often also thrust into the spotlight. So when Lamar Odom got married to Khloé Kardashian in 2009 just one month after meeting her, and became a fixture on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, you’d better believe his Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant got to have some say in the situation.
Lamar Odom opened up about his ex-wife and his connection to the stars of Hulu’s The Kardashians for the TMZ special Lamar Odom: Sex, Drugs & Kardashians. It’s easy to see how the increased attention surrounding the NBA forward could have been seen as a distraction by his Laker teammates — especially the no-nonsense Kobe Bryant — and Odom revealed what they thought about his new and sudden reality TV stardom, saying:
They were very supportive. Very supportive. You know, I had to like kinda ask Kobe, you know what I mean, like, what he thought about it. And he was just like, you know, if you bring it. He don’t care. And I wound up winning the Sixth Man of the Year Award. So I know he had a lot of respect for that.
Of course Lamar Odom had to run such a thing by team leader Kobe Bryant, knowing that being on Keeping Up With the Kardashians — and later his own spinoff Khloé & Lamar — would likely bring a new kind of attention to the team and definitely become a huge part of his life. The NBA great, who tragically died in a helicopter crash in 2020, apparently said as long as Odom continued to do his job successfully on the court, all was good by him. Odom seemed to have proved just that by winning the NBA’s Sixth Man Award in 2011.
By marrying Khloé Kardashian in a wedding that was filmed for the E! reality show, the Celebrity Big Brother alum was rocketed to a level of fame that not even his career on an NBA championship team could provide. In his words:
[It was a] blessing. No doubt about it. 100 percent. You want me to be honest with you, dude? I mean, I was an amazing basketball player, but I know me marrying Khloé Kardashian gives me relevance in so many ways in the entertainment world. Obviously I knew what I signed up for. I was doing business with my wife. It’s her business, so I’m making it my business. And I’m a Laker. So if I’m gonna do reality TV, why not do it with the Lakers in reality TV?
The marriage lasted for four years before Khloé Kardashian filed for divorce in 2013 amid Lamar Odom’s struggles with drugs and sex addiction. The proceedings were put on hold after the NBA vet overdosed at a Las Vegas brothel, spending three days in a coma and suffering multiple strokes and heart attacks. After Kardashian helped him recover, the divorce was finalized in 2016.
Despite how the relationship ended, Lamar Odom still has strong feelings for Khloé Kardashian, and she admitted to Kelly Clarkson in October that she “genuniely still love[s]” him as well and wants the best for him.
Fans who want to relive what the former couple was like together can stream Khloé & Lamar with an Amazon Prime Video subscription, or watch Keeping Up With the Kardashians with a Peacock Premium subscription. For those who want to remember one of the NBA’s greatest players of all time, check out these documentaries and specials about Kobe Bryant.
