Lamar Odom‘s kids broke their silence about their complicated relationship — and addressed the years that he was married to Khloé Kardashian.
Destiny, 27, and Lamar “LJ” Odom Jr., 23, whom Odom, 46, shares with ex Liza Morales, reflected on the ups and downs with their dad in Netflix’s Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom. They initially made an appearance when Odom spoke about getting married to Kardashian, 41, in 2009, which wasn’t supported by everyone in his life.
“My babies’ mother didn’t let them come to my wedding,” Odom revealed in the Tuesday, March 31, documentary.
LJ clarified in his own confessional that he “never even met” Kardashian. Odom’s son wasn’t told about the wedding while Destiny recalled opting out because she “didn’t want to be a show pony” amid the event being filmed for Kardashian’s reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
“If you want to get married in front of 100 people and all these cameras, that’s totally cool. It’s on you. Of course when you decide to get married to somebody in 30 days, it’s going to hurt,” Morales, 46, who dated Odom from 1996 to 2008, shared. “Then on top of that, let me just stick it to you a little bit more. It’s going to be on television.”
Odom’s aunt, meanwhile, clarified that he “didn’t invite” any family to the wedding except his childhood best friend Pumpkin.
“I wound up going to the wedding that night and he came and talked to me for two hours. He was explaining the move that he’s doing. He was doing it to try to better his future,” Pumpkin recalled about the guest list being full of “60 to 70 year olds” who would offer Odom important connections.
Despite their absence from Odom’s big day, LJ admitted he loved when his dad was part of the famous family, saying, “When he was married to Khloé. I looked forward to Christmas because I was like, ‘I know Kris Jenner and Khloé, they are going to give me some good presents.’”
Destiny and LJ’s estrangement from their father deepened as his addiction struggles got worse. They recalled an incident when they planned to attend a parade with the Los Angeles Lakers player before Odom blew them off.
“Rejection from a parent is extremely hard and hurtful. It definitely pains your development growing up,” Destiny noted. “There are some moments that you never forget. Now I know that he was partying and using [drugs].”
Odom, for his part, didn’t remember the incident.
“When you’re on drugs, there’s always going to be embarrassment,” he explained. “I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more stories that I can’t really remember because of where I was at that time of my life. A lot of people do drugs and they had the best 15-minute high of their life. They can wait to do it next Friday or a week after they did it. With some people, you do it and unlock something that you can’t really control.”
Another insight into their dynamic with Odom and Kardashian came up when discussing his 2015 overdose. (Odom was left comatose following an overdose at a legal brothel in Crystal, Nevada. He suffered six heart attacks and 12 strokes before struggling to regain his ability to walk and talk.)
Odom’s family accused Kardashian of keeping them from entering his hospital room and making them sign NDAs. Kardashian, meanwhile, claimed that after drug dealers tried to enter Odom’s room, she had to enforce “filters on who” she would let into the hospital.
In the aftermath of his recovery, Destiny was upset to see Odom out and about in Los Angeles — but not visiting his kids.
“He was on this redemption tour moving around here to there in L.A. and going to events. But he never went to rehab,” Destiny noted. “He just acted like the coma thing never really happened. I was like, ‘You didn’t even come to see me.’”
The documentary concluded with Odom spending time with his son, LJ. He wasn’t seen spending time with Destiny, which left the status of their present-day relationship unclear.
“As much as he has grown over the past couple of years, I feel like sometimes you always got to put him back on track,” LJ added. “It seems like you’re the parrot and he’s the son. We all got a lot of growing up to do but I feel like he has got a lot of growing up to do.”
Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom is streaming now on Netflix.
