Lamar Odom is a retired professional basketball player, however, he was further thrust into the limelight as a result of his relationship and subsequent marriage to the youngest Kardashian sister, Khloe Kardashian. As a result of their union, Lamar featured in the family’s hit TV series Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
However, Lamar’s substance abuse and growing personal problems took their toll on his NBA career and ultimately led to his divorce from Khloe. Follow us as we reveal facts about Lamar Odom.
Is Lamar Odom Dead?
Nope! Lamar Odom is not dead but alive and doing very well. However, he became a victim of a death hoax following his collapse due to substance abuse in October 2015. The media didn’t get to know this until September 2017 when the Kardashians revealed it during the filming of the 10th anniversary of their hit reality TV show.
As the K sisters narrated, someone emailed Kim Kardashian saying that Lamar had died after he was rushed to the hospital when he was found lying unconscious in a Nevada brothel. However, it turned out to be fake information sent to Kim via a fake account.
Kim immediately texted her sisters about Lamar’s passing, before she later learned the truth that it was only false information.
“I was screaming,” Khloe said of initially learning of Lamar’s death during the 10th-anniversary episode. “To think and to go through the motions as if someone has passed away is the most traumatic thing to do and then to know they’re really alive, it was too many emotions, I think, for any of us to handle.”
Whoever had sent the email did have a close call as Lamar would subsequently spend 4 days in a coma with very minimal chances of survival. Miraculously, he survived what would have been a death from a drug overdose. Doctors found some of the drugs he overdosed to include herbal Viagra.
Subsequent intense physical therapy helped Lamar come out from that deadly drug relapse.
Odom himself wrote about his October 2015 near-death experience in a candid article posted on Player’s Tribune.
Wiki, Dad
Lamar Joseph Odom was born on November 6, 1979, in South Jamaica, Queens, New York City to Joe Odom and Cathy Mercer. Unfortunately, Lamar’s mother Cathy died a year before Lamar would become a teenager. To make matters worse, Lamar’s dad Joe was barely in the picture.
A heroin addict, Joe had little or nothing to contribute to Lamar’s upbringing. However, Lamar later developed a relationship with his estranged dad who later began contributing financially to his academics.
Lamar was left in the care of his maternal grandparents who raised him into adulthood. Growing up in a gang-ridden neighborhood, Lamar at the age of 7 picked up a basketball in order to stay out of trouble. He played on the basketball team of his school Christ The King Regional High School in Middle Village, Queens where he attended for 3 years before joining Redemption Christian Academy in Troy, New York due to bad grades.
However, changing schools did little to affect Lamar’s grades as he continued to flunk his tests. He would later transfer to Connecticut’s St. Thomas Aquinas High School where he finally graduated,
Though Lamar struggled in the classroom, his height and physical strength gave him an edge on the basketball court. Soon he attracted national recognition after being named the Parade Player of the Year in 1997.
With hopes of going professional, Lamar attended the University of Nevada, again, academic problems saw him transfer to the University of Rhode Island. At Rhode, Lamar entered into the 1999 NBA draft and was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers with the fourth overall pick. His contract was worth $7.88 million for 3-years.
After posing an amazing rookie season, Lamar made it to the 2000 NBA All-Rookie First Team. Unfortunately, Lamar became entangled with drugs by the end of his sophomore season. This led to him being suspended twice in 8 months.
After his deal with the Clippers ended, Lamar signed with Miami Heat as a restricted free agent. He spent one season (2002/2003) with the side before joining the LA Lakers where his career picked up. He spent 6 seasons with the side winning two NBA championship titles in 20009 and 2010 respectively.
Lamar joined the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 but it became the beginning of the end of his career as things only went south since then. He was traded back to the LA Clippers but he struggled to find his footing. Lamar then went to Europe in 2014 where he played briefly for Spain’s Laboral Kutxa Baskonia before bringing his career to an end.
Height: 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Lamar Odom Net Worth
In an NBA career that spanned 15 years, Lamar made $115 million in salary alone. His biggest season was the 2008-2009 season when he earned $14.1 million.
Some of his endorsement partners included Taco Bell and Wrigley. During the peak of his career, Lamar was estimated to have a net worth of over $50 million, however as his personal troubles increased, so did his wealth dip. His net worth is now estimated at $30 million.
Lamar’s net worth stems not only from his NBA career but also from his music and film production company Rich Soil Entertainment, as well as his appearance on KUWTK and the spin-off Khloe and Lamar. He earned over $800,000 a year from the former and $50,000 from the latter.
Wife, Girlfriend, Kids, Son
Lamar has been in two serious relationships that the media knows of. First was with Liza Morales, a relationship that started when they were in grade school. The two had three kids together, but one, son Jayden died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome 6 months after his birth in 2005.
His other two kids with Liza are Destiny born in 1998 and Lamar Jr. born in 2002.
After separating from Liza, Lamar met Khloe Kardashian at Artest’s (his Laker’s teammate) party. Following a month of dating, they got married in 2009 in a wedding that was televised on KUWTK. Despite many tries, Lamar and Khloe had no kids.
They separated in 2013 and finalized their divorce in 2016. Khloe had to put the divorce proceedings on hold in 2015 in order to be by Lamar’s side after his near-death experience.
