National Basketball Association

Lamar Odom regrets cocaine use, cheating on ex-wife Khloe Kardashian

Published Mar. 29, 2017 4:28 p.m. ET

Nunzio Ingrassia

More than a year after his brush with death, former Los Angeles Lakers star Lamar Odom told US Weekly that he’s a “walking miracle” in a wide-ranging interview that delved into his problems with cocaine and his affairs while married to ex-wife Khloe Kardashian.

The 2011 NBA Sixth Man of the Year told the publication that he suffered 12 strokes and two heart attacks after being found unconscious at a Las Vegas-area brothel in October 2015. Odom said he went to the brothel because he was "bored" and "wanted to go out and have a good time.” He then remembers falling asleep with two women and waking up four days later trying “to pull the tubes out of my mouth.”

The 37-year-old, who completed a stay at San Diego’s Casa Palmera rehab center in January, said that he hid his cocaine use from his ex-wife for a while but that she found out about two years before they split. He also admitted to “having multiple affairs with different women” while married to Kardashian, who filed for divorce in 2013 and finalized it three years later.

"That wasn’t the stand-up thing to do," Odom said about the cheating. "I wish I could have kept my [expletive] in my pants."

Odom, who says he’s sober now, blamed his cocaine use for expediting the end of his NBA career, which concluded in 2013.

“It probably helped the end of my career come along a little faster because drugs killed my drive to want to train and be in shape,” Odom said.