Khloé Kardashian and Lamar Odom’s marriage captivated fans from their whirlwind 2009 wedding through its painful unraveling — and in the years since, Kardashian has continued to speak candidly about the former NBA star, their divorce and the addiction struggles that defined much of their relationship.
The Good American cofounder and the former Los Angeles Lakers player wed in September 2009 after just one month of dating. Kardashian filed for divorce in December 2013 but withdrew the petition after Odom’s near-fatal October 2015 overdose at a Nevada brothel. She stayed by his side through his recovery — he suffered 12 strokes and six heart attacks — before their divorce was finalized in December 2016.
From early declarations of love to recent revelations about the breaking point in their marriage, here is how Kardashian has described her relationship with Odom through the years.
Khloe Kardashian Vows to ‘Never Not Love’ Lamar Odom
“I will never ever not love Lamar,” Kardashian told E! News in April 2015 after the couple called it quits. “I was so obsessed with him in a healthy way. He was my husband, and I still wish he was, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
Khloé Kardashian Reflects on Her Marriage Vows
Speaking to Complex in July 2015, Kardashian explained why she wasn’t rushing the divorce process.
“When you genuinely feel like that was the right relationship, you’re supposed to give it all you can. That’s what marriage is about,” she said. “It’s not, ‘Let’s see if it works, if not we always have divorce.’ I am not one of those girls. You took a vow before God and you’re supposed to abide by that. I’m not rushing into my divorce because I’m not looking to get married tomorrow, so I don’t have a deadline.”
She called Odom “genuinely one of the best people I’ve ever met,” adding, “I think Lamar’s gonna always be that person [for me] but that’s what made it so special. Even if I had it for five years or whatever, it was the best ever and I’m grateful I did. Some people don’t get that ever and I had that magic for a long time.”
Khloé Kardashian Wishes Odom Well on ‘Kocktails With Khloe’
“I want Lamar to be happy with Lamar again. I want Lamar to fall in love with his life one more time,” Kardashian said on her then-talk show, Kocktails With Khloé, in March 2016. “I never wanted the divorce to begin with, but you know, I never wanted him to spiral out of control—but some people need to walk down a certain path in order to heal, so I’m just happy that he’s healing.”
Khloe Kardashian Admits She ‘Fake Tried’ for a Baby
During the season 13 finale of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kardashian confessed she hadn’t been genuinely trying to conceive with Odom.
“I was married but I knew the circumstances weren’t the healthiest, so I just kept pretending I was doing it,” she said. “When I was doing my fertility treatments, they were more so for Lamar. I had to stop cause there was much deeper stuff that was happening in our marriage.”
Khloé Kardashian Calls Odom ‘Courageous’ for His Addiction Honesty
After Odom published his memoir Darkness to Light, Kardashian addressed his candid revelations during a KUWTK clip with sister Kim Kardashian.
“I’m fine. It’s his truth, like, he’s allowed to tell his version,” she said. “Him and I each played a significant role in each other’s lives, so I think it’s natural.”
Kardashian added that much of what Odom shared was “never” her “place to talk about” and praised his vulnerability. “So, if he feels like talking about it—and if this is a form of his healing and therapy—then I actually think it’s really courageous to talk about the amount of addiction that he’s had. Like, the depths of it. It doesn’t bother me.”
Khloé Kardashian Says She ‘Misses’ Odom in October 2019
In an October 2019 episode of KUWTK, Kardashian told sisters Kim and Kourtney Kardashian that Odom had called her to reconnect.
“I miss him all the time, but not in a place where I want to get back with him,” she said on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. “So, he called me and he was like, ‘I just knew we were all gonna talk again at some point. I’m just so happy.’ He was like, ‘I would love to see you. I’ve been dying to see you in person. I just feel like we have so much to talk about.’”
Kardashian also reflected on why she ultimately walked away. “I always felt after, I think, his overdose, that I did everything in my power to be there through sickness and health. Once I saw that he, you know, wasn’t in the headspace to really want to change his bad situation then I was fine letting him go.”
The call, she admitted, left her conflicted: “I really don’t know what the right thing to do in this situation. I don’t want to mislead him in any way, but I would like to meet with him.”
Khloe Kardashian Identifies the ‘Pivotal Moment’ That Ended Their Marriage
Appearing on Mel Robbins’ podcast in January 2025, Kardashian pinpointed the conversation that led her to file for divorce.
“I remember, I was married and my ex-husband had a drug addiction,” she said. “And I knew that his addiction always heightened—he was in the NBA—and his addiction always heightened when he was in the off-season, cause idle time is the devil’s playground. I remember he was asked to go to Team USA, if I remember correctly, and I was begging, ‘Please, please go to Team USA’ and I was pushing, and I remember he just looked at me and said, ‘You can’t want it more than I do’.”
She continued: “I remember when he said, ‘You can’t want it more than me’ and ‘I don’t want it’—it was so profound. It’s so silly, ‘cause I know that. But I wanted it so badly, because I wanted to help him and to get him to feel the motivation and feel good, but he just wasn’t in that place. It took me a long time to get to, then I had to file for divorce.”
Khloe Kardashian Reveals the Weight of Protecting Lamar Odom
Kardashian participated in Netflix’s Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom, which premiered in March 2026. In the trailer, she described the chaos of Odom’s addiction.
“The drug buildup was getting worse and worse. There were many times Lamar would go for 12 hours or two days and escape rehab,” she said. “I was either looking for him in alleys or looking for him in motels. … I was such an enabler without knowing I was an enabler. But I just felt such a responsibility to cover this up, hold it together and protect him.”
Khloe Kardashian Slams Odom’s Son’s ‘Gross’ Comments
On an October 2026 episode of The Kardashians, Kardashian criticized remarks made by Odom’s son, Lamar “LJ” Odom Jr., in the Netflix doc.
“They sent me the footage so I can watch the whole thing. The son, LJ, is like, ‘I only came around for Christmas because I knew Kris [Jenner] and Khloé were going to spend a lot of money on me,’” she told Scott Disick. “It was so gross how they were talking about me.”
Kardashian added: “They’ve never, ever really been nice to me and so the fact that they even feel comfortable asking me for things is ballsy.”
Khloe Kardashian Recalls Finding Odom at an ‘Orgy’
On a November 2026 episode of The Kardashians, Kardashian and mom Kris Jenner revisited the night they tracked Odom down at a hotel during the height of his addiction.
“And all I saw [was] they were literally having a circle jerk. There were 20 people in the room,” Kardashian said.
The memory, she told cameras, has shaped her current dating standards: “This is solidifying how I will never date a freak again. I needed to put this on my manifest list [for a man]. Maybe I should add no circle jerks and no orgies. Also maybe no hardcore drugs.”
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
