Lamar Odom’s Heartfelt Apology to Khloé Kardashian Captured on The Kardashians

In an awkward staged meeting, the reality star and her ex confront the demons that destroyed their marriage.

They hadn’t seen each other in nearly nine years. Shortly before Khloé Kardashian’s 40th birthday last June, she quietly reconnected with ex-husband Lamar Odom as Kardashians cameras rolled. The retired NBA star was “visibly uncomfortable,” the Good American designer recalled, when he arrived nearly an hour late to the home of Khloé’s best friend, Malika Haqq, 41, who purportedly facilitated the meeting after running into Lamar at the 2024 Super Bowl. Lamar was “sweating.” Khloé said on the season 6 premiere of her family’s reality show, and seemed “scared.”

Filming Fears

A source says, “Producers promised no surprises or ambushes – but even so, Lamar knew he was still taking a risk” agreeing to let The Kardashians cameras capture his reunion with Khloé almost nine years after they last met.

He was terrified. “I haven’t seen you in so long. You make me nervous,” the basketball great told her, describing their reunion as an “out-of-body” experience. Khloé, however, was less emotional. “I don’t have bad blood. I don’t have any blood. There’s no feelings,” she claimed, explaining she just wanted to return some of the 45-year-old’s belongings, including a basketball award and his wedding rings, “and not have a conversation.” Lamar, however, needed to get a few things off his chest. “I took you through a lot. I f**ked up.” he said, accepting responsibility for the breakdown of their marriage more than a decade earlier and the difficult period that followed. “I love you for trying your hardest with me, and that love I don’t think will ever go away. I know it won’t.”

Long Time Coming

It was moving and real-but, in true Kardashian fashion, not exactly genuine, a source tells Star. The former Los Angeles Laker was “desperate for an opportunity to see Khloé,” explains the source. When momager Kris Jenner got wind of that Khloé’s claims she’d kept the meeting a secret aren’t entirely true, the source confirms the 69-year-old sprang into action. “She got in contact with Lamar’s team, knowing it would deliver not only a compelling storyline that would draw ratings but also might offer good closure for Khloé.”

Happier Times

“I took my vows very seriously,” Khloé said on the Feb. 6 episode of The Kardashians, “but there were bigger things that were not fixable in that marriage.”

Myriad viewers described the meetup as “so sad” on social media after watching flashbacks of the couple-who wed in 2009, just a month after meeting-along with the awkward reunion footage. The whirlwind romance soured by 2013 amid Lamar’s increasing infidelity and drug use. Yet their love was real. When he nearly died following a 2015 drug overdose at a Nevada brothel, Khloé withdrew her divorce petition and devoted herself to his recovery. It was only when she realized he was “repeating some of the same behaviors that I just couldn’t stand for,” she said, that she finally cut ties.

It broke her heart. “I don’t know if I could even put into words what I felt for Lamar,” she explained on The Kardashians, calling their romance “the most special, magical time of my life-the most purest love I’ve ever had.” Now, though, after dealing with “so much trauma in this relationship,” she said she’s ready to “be done with that chapter.”

Lamar, however, can’t seem to let go. He arrived for their meeting bearing flowers, champagne and a cake inscribed “Happy Anniversary 9-27-09” – their wedding date. “Kris thought it was fantastic,” says the source, “but for Khloé, it was a little much.” She also bristled when “Lammy” slipped and called her “my wife.”

Uncertain Future

While that chapter may be closed, Khloé has struggled to move on. Her roller-coaster romance with another cheating NBA star, Tristan Thompson, 33, gave her children, True, 6, and Tatum, 2. But that, too, ended brutally when she learned he’d fathered a child with another woman in 2021. After revealing last summer that she’d been celibate for more than two years, the star admitted on the Feb. 5 episode of her Khloé in Wonder Land podcast that she’d like to end the dry spell, quipping, “I work out to get laid. Someone’s gonna see this naked [body] one day, and it has to look good.”

But the back-to-back disasters with Lamar and Tristan, as well as flings with bad boys like NBA player James Harden, 35, and rapper French Montana, 40, did a number on her self-esteem, says the source. “Khloé’s confidence has taken a battering, and she’s still extremely wary of dating.” She hasn’t lost all faith in love, the source adds, “but right now her focus is on being a mom and a businesswoman.”