Khloe on Lamar: How She Still Loves Him
— -- Even after she signed divorce papers in July, Khloe Kardashian made it clear that she had never really stopped loving Lamar Odom.
"Lamar is genuinely one of the best people I've ever met, and everyone says that when they meet him," she told Complex magazine around the same time for the August/September cover story. "I think Lamar's going to always be that person [for me] but that's what made it so special."
Now, the 31-year-old reality star has gone one step further in the wake of Odom's recovery after being discovered unconscious at a Nevada brothel -- she called off her divorce proceedings Wednesday, which means the couple is still married.
Kardashian has been by Odom's bedside since he was hospitalized last week after being found unconscious at the Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada. The 35-year-old former NBA star was recently transported to a hospital in Los Angeles to continue his recovery, and Kardashian was photographed in his company.
The couple jumped into marriage feet first, tying the knot just a few weeks after meeting for the first time in September 2009. The wedding was featured on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," giving Odom his first taste of the reality TV lifestyle.
Soon after, the couple got their own reality show. "Khloe & Lamar" debuted in April 2011 and ran for two seasons.
The show offered an inside look at Odom's troubled past and the challenges the newly married couple faced.
"Death always seems to be around me," he told the Los Angeles Times in 2011 after attending the funeral of his murdered 24-year-old cousin one day and witnessing a pedestrian being killed during a car accident the next day. "I've been burying people for a long time."
That same year, Kardashian encouraged Odom to reconnect with his estranged father. "I have such a soft spot for dads, I mean I lost my father and I wish every single day I could say one last thing to him," she said on "Khloe & Lamar." "I don't want Lamar to feel the regret I feel."
While Kardashian struggled to get pregnant, Odom hit some bumps in his NBA career. He left the Dallas Mavericks just months after the Los Angeles Lakers traded him. After spending some time with the Los Angeles Clippers and in the Spanish League, he ended his pro career with the New York Knicks last year.
Off the court, the marriage was showing signs of cracking. Odom was arrested for a DUI in fall 2013, to which he pleaded no contest that December. Later that month, Kardashian filed for divorce amid reports of Odom's infidelity and substance abuse.
"Even if I had it for five years or whatever, it was the best ever and I’m grateful I did," Kardashian told Complex about her marriage to Odom. "Some people don’t get that ever and I had that magic for a long time."
Though their divorce was final this summer, Kardashian never fully cut the cord.
"I talk to Lamar as often as I can, which is inconsistent, but not on my terms," she told Complex. "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."
Even more recently, she admitted that she still had feelings for Odom.
"Lamar and I loved each other deeply, and I don't believe in just acting like that relationship never existed," Kardashian said during an episode of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" last month. "Things happened, but that doesn't just stop me from caring about him or loving him."
On an episode just two weeks ago, Kardashian said she was "always going to be there for" Odom.
Immediately after getting the news about Odom's hospitalization, Kardashian rushed to be by his side.
"You can never be prepared for an experience like this, but without the outpouring of love and endless prayers that Lamar has received and the strength I was given from my loved ones, it would have been difficult to endure," Kardashian wrote in a statement on her website earlier this week.
