Former Basketball Star Lamar Odom Opens Up About His Past Cocaine Addiction

Former Los Angeles Lakers’ star Lamar Odom is currently on the road to recovery from a vicious battle with a cocaine addiction. After several months, Odom is finally opening up about the trials and tribulations he has endured. Odom also offers a stunning revelation.

People who do not know Lamar Odom as an NBA star recognizes him as the ex-husband of Khloe Kardashian.

Khloe Kardashian is known to most as Kim Kardashian’s sister. She is also one of the stars of the hit reality series Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian got married in 2009. They officially married for six years, however, they only stayed together for four years. The union ended due to a litany of martial problems in December 2015. It was the culmination of what became a rocky period for the former Lakers’ star.

Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian signed their divorce papers in July 2015. Near the end of their marriage, in October 2015, Lamar Odom suffered from a cocaine overdose which nearly costed him his life.

According to People Online, Lamar Odom was found unconscious at a Nevada-based brothel. He remained hospitalized for several weeks after the cocaine overdose left Odom in a coma (courtesy of E!).

When he finally came to, Lamar Odom was surrounded by Khloe Kardashian, Kris Jenner, his former Lakers’ teammates, along with Jesse Jackson and others. Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant was another regular visitor of Lamar Odom.

Instead of looking back on his life in a negative light Lamar Odom revealed several truths about his behavior while he was in the NBA. Odom, who played on five NBA teams spent seven seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.

His admission to when he started using cocaine would suggest that he was a member of the Miami Heat at the time. It came after the death of his six-month-old son Jaden.

Nearly two years ago, he endured a brush with death.

This is @RealLamarOdom in his own words: https://t.co/nsE3oQ1orf pic.twitter.com/KwatGQvlKQ

— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) July 27, 2017

That revelation came to the surface in a piece that Lamar Odom wrote on The Player’s Tribune, the former Lakers’ star gave a look into his early childhood struggles. Among those struggles was the death of his mother. Odom lost her when he was 12-years-old. He used basketball as his escape. Once he landed in the NBA that escape became drugs.

“Anybody who’s lived a complicated, drug-infused life like I’ve lived knows the cycle — with women, cheating on my wife, shit like that. Nights when I should have been asleep. Nights when I stayed up sniffing coke. Lot of those nights. When your heart is beating fast. When you should know better. When you’re just riding that roller coaster, man.”

Lamar Odom also opened the door to how those struggles have affected him currently. His words are shocking.

“I’m sober now. But it’s an everyday struggle. I have an addiction. I’ll always have an addiction. It never goes away. I mean, I want to get high right now. But I know that I can’t if I want to be here for my children.”

Odom credits his children Destiny Odom and Lamar Odom Jr. for a successful road to recovery. He acknowledges that his daughter Destiny has been tough on him during his trying times.

Lamar Odom will need all of the support he can get in order to remain clean and sober. That was not an admission of Lamar Odom, however he intimates that he has a long road ahead of him.

[Featured Image by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images]