10 Things You Didn’t Know About Lamar Odom

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Lamar Odom had so much potential. He enjoyed a lot of success, but his career is now pretty much over. When it comes to his personal life, he’s seen his fair share of tragedy. It seems like everyone who Lamar loves either dies or leaves. We all know about his failed marriage to Khloe Kardashian, but there’s so much we just don’t know about the former basketball pro. We’re trying to correct that – here are 10 things you can say you now know about Lamar!

10. So Much Potential

Lamar was dubbed the next Magic Johnson before he had even finished high school.

Photo by J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday/MCT/Cameleon/ABACAPRESS.COM

9. Olympic Athlete

In 2004, Lamar played in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece for the United States’ national team.

Photo by Joe Rossi/St.Paul Pioneer Press/KRT/ABACA

8. Tragedy Strikes

Two of the basketball pro’s good friends, Jamie Sangouthai and Bobby Heyward, died within less than a week of each this past June. A flesh eating disease from his intravenous drug use is what caused Sangouthai’s death while Heyward died of a drug overdose.

Photo by Broadimage/REX

7. Candy Lover

The former L.A. Laker has quite the sweet tooth. He loves candy so much that he eats it for breakfast.

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6. Witness to a Horrible Accident

In 2011, on his way to Queens, the basketball pro’s chauffeur-driven car hit a motorbike, which then hit and killed 15-year-old Awsaf Alvi Islam who was riding a bike.

Photo by Broadimage / Rex Features

5. A Common Fear

Lamar might have some nice pearly whites, but he is deathly afraid of going to the dentist.

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4. A Savvy Investment

Lamar has his own music and film production company, Rich Soil Entertainment.

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3. Caught for Drug Use

The former NBA pro has admitted to drug use in the past. In 2001, he violated NBA drug policies twice in eight months. “I just couldn’t control myself in L.A. … the lifestyle that I was living and the things I had access to,” he said in 2003.

Photo by Broadimage / Rex Features

2. A Challenging Upbringing

Lamar didn’t have the easiest upbringing – his father was a heroin addict and his mother died of colon cancer when he was 12 years old, so his grandmother, Mildred, raised him.

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1. Tragedy Strikes at Home

Lamar has two children, Destiny and Lamar Jr. with his ex Liza Morales. They had a third child Jayden, but he died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at six and a half months while sleeping in his crib.

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Cate

Cate

Cate has a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature and has been the Managing Editor of Fame10 for more than 6 years. Despite having a love for the works of Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy and Lord Byron, she also has an intense fascination with pop culture. When she isn’t writing for Fame10, she’s planning her next big adventure in Southeast Asia.

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