Odom spoke about his relationship with Kardashian and his struggles with drug abuse in a new special for 'TMZ.'
Lamar Odom is getting candid about his marriage to Khloe Kardashian. In a new special which aired Monday, TMZ Presents: Lamar Odom: Sex, Drugs & Kardashians, the former Los Angeles Laker spoke to TMZ's Harvey Levin about his relationship with Kardashian and where he stands with her now.
The pair tied the knot just one month after they met in 2009, before ultimately deciding to go their separate ways in 2016. While Odom was a star in his own right, he admitted to knowing that marrying Kardashian would give him "relevance" in the entertainment world.
"I was an amazing basketball player, but I know me marrying Khloe Kardashian gives me relevance in so many ways in the entertainment world, I know what I signed up for," Odom confessed. "I was doing business with my wife. It's her business, so I'm making it my business."
Kardashian's mother, Kris Jenner, got in on that business, serving as Odom's manager throughout their marriage.
"I used to call her ma. She showed a lot of love. She was cool. I loved her. We all got into business," he shared. "It was a family business -- you know that, Harvey."
Odom continued, "I'm comfortable enough [for her to be my manager]. I'm happy enough to do it. I made some money. I came out on the positive."
While everything seemed to be going fine in their whirlwind romance, Odom's drug use and cheating caused rifts in their marriage that proved to be irreparable.
"Drugs -- that was my girlfriend. I had a wife and cocaine," he explained. "For part of my marriage, I had to tell [Khloe]. You can't hide that forever. She was hurt, but Khloe was a good wife. She wasn’t dismissive or 'Get away from me,' she was protective and wanted to protect me even more."
"I mean behind the scenes, I put her through some sh*t. Like sh*t that y’all don’t know," he added. "The stories that y’all don’t know is, like, really crazy."
While Kardashian did rush to Odom's side after he suffered a drug overdose in 2015.
"She would bring me pictures of my mother, my grandmother, help me with my memory," Odom explained. "I couldn’t show how I really felt. I was hardly even talking. I could hardly say, 'Thank you, Khloe.' I could think it, but I couldn’t express it."
He added, "I wish at that time I was more cognitive to let her know how much I appreciate her for that. I couldn’t show how I really felt. I knew it had to be terribly frustrating for her."
Despite their ups and downs, Odom admitted that he'd like to take Kardashian out to dinner -- although he said he's "too shy" to ask.
"I’m not a loser and I felt like I lost. I would love to just take Khloe out to dinner," Odom said. "[But] I’m too shy and I’m a Scorpio and I hate being told no or being denied. I’m afraid."
Kardashian has yet to publicly address any of the comments Odom made on the show.
She did, however, discuss their relationship on the Skinny Not Fat podcast back in May, telling host Amanda Hirsch, "Look, I'm happy for Lamar. He looks like he's in a really good place. The last time I'd seen him in person, he was just recovering from his overdose, so he wasn't so far along in his recovery."
"And so to see him be so great -- I'm happy for him and I'm rooting for him," she added.
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