Lamar Odom Married Khloé Kardashian for ‘Mad Connections,’ Friend Said
Lamar Odom and Khloé Kardashian’s marriage began as a whirlwind romance that quickly became one of the most talked-about relationships of its era. The pair met in 2009 and married just weeks later. And their relationship caused such a stir that the couple received their own reality TV series. In 2026, Odom and Kardashian’s marriage is gaining attention due to the Netflix documentary Untold: The Death and Life of Lamar Odom. Here’s what Odom’s friend said about why he really tied the knot with Kardashian.
Lamar Odom’s friend said he wanted the ‘mad connections’ that came with marrying Khloé Kardashian
Lamar Odom and Khloé Kardashian’s marriage remains one of the most highly discussed celebrity relationships in 2026, especially with the release of Netflix’s Untold: The Death and Life of Lamar Odom. The couple tied the knot in 2009. They later separated in 2013 before finalizing their divorce in 2016. While their early years were marked by public displays of affection and growing fame, their marriage was ultimately strained by Odom’s struggles with substance abuse and infidelity, which Kardashian later said she tried to manage behind the scenes.
Odom exclusively told Page Six that he’s “grateful” for his marriage to Kardashian. However, he acknowledged that “people and places in your life change.” Today, he’s “working” on being his “best self.” And the recent Netflix documentary revealed a lot about his romance with Kardashian, including allegations regarding why he tied the knot with the reality star in the first place.
Odom’s childhood friend, Anthony “Pumpkin” Booker, claimed the former NBA star married Kardashian for the “mad connections.”
“The moves that he’s doing, he was doing it to try to better his future,” Booker noted, indicating that Odom might’ve felt as if the Kardashian family’s fame could help him in the long run.
Odom himself made this admission. “I’m watching how she lives and their lifestyle. I’m like, ‘This is how I want to live,'” he said.
Odom’s daughter, Destiny, echoed the same sentiment. She noted that her father loved Kardashian. However, “he had wanted to be on reality TV for a long time.”
The former NBA star wrote about the ‘bliss’ he experienced when he first tied the knot
Lamar Odom wrote about his marriage to Khloé Kardashian in his memoir, Darkness to Light. He admitted that he loved their union at first, as it came with unimaginable fame and money.
“For a while, being with her was bliss and I was the happiest I’ve ever been,” Odom wrote, according to Elite Daily. “We were one of the most famous couples in Hollywood and we made more money together than we had individually.”
Unfortunately, the “lethal cocktail” of fame, addiction, and infidelity got to him.
“I could not handle the lethal cocktail of the spotlight, addiction, a diminishing career and infidelity,” he wrote. “Oh, did I mention the paranoia, anxiety, depression … I couldn’t keep my d*** in my pants or the coke out of my nose. Drug addicts are incredibly skilled at hiding their habit. I’d get defensive and Khloé would just drop it.”
Odom also reflected on Kardashian’s “unconditional” love. “That’s the only thing [I think] that gave her the strength to still love me at that time.”
Khloé Kardashian recalled the moment when she ‘had to file for divorce’
In a January 2025 episode of her Khloé in Wonderland podcast, Khloé Kardashian reflected on when she knew she had to file for divorce.
“I remember, I was married, and my ex-husband had a drug addiction,” she told Mel Robbins, according to Page Six. “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.”
Kardashian remembered how Odom was asked to go to Team USA. She begged him to do it. However, he told her, “‘You can’t want it more than I do.'”
“But I remember when he said, ‘You can’t want it more than me’ and ‘I don’t want it’ — it was so profound,” Kardashian explained. “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.”
