Lamar Odom dishes on his secret relationship with Taraji P. Henson: 'I don’t think I ever connected with another black woman as deeply'
Lamar Odom is really going out of his way to promote his upcoming memoir, 'Darkness to Light,' and is revealing some truly jaw-dropping tidbits along the way. In the book, the basketball player shared that prior to taking vows with Khloe Kardashian, he was once head over heels for 'Empire' actress Taraji P. Henson.
The 39-year-old NBA veteran/reality star said that he was romantically involved with the 48-year-old actress prior to his relationship and subsequent marriage with the 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' star. “We ended up exchanging numbers. She was just such a wise woman that she could see through whatever smooth act I was trying to put on,” Odom wrote.
He added, “She refused to be just another conquest, and truthfully, I didn’t want her to be.” Odom and Henson met and began dating sometime in 2008, when her son Marcel was 14 years old. While the world was largely unaware of this secretive relationship, Odom was Henson’s date at a 2009 Golden Globe after party.
Calling the period one of the “happiest times in his life”, Odom said, "We started secretly dating and quickly fell in love. She introduced me to her fourteen-year-old son, Marcel, and was at my house nearly every day. Sometimes she’d bring some of her Hollywood friends, like actress Sanaa Lathan who starred in Love And Basketball."
He continued, "I don’t think I ever connected with another black woman as deeply as I did Taraji.” But Odom being Odom, the relationship soon fizzled out because of his constant infidelity. He admitted, “Things were amazing, but of course, God gave me a layup and I blew it.”
Claiming how things went by the wayside when he cheated on Henson, Odom explained, "I felt guilty, but I was craving immediate sex." However, months after their breakup, the Queens, New York native, who spent 15 years in the NBA, the majority with the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers franchises, got on one knee and proposed to Khloe and then planned a whirlwind wedding.
Odom was married to Khloe from September 27, 2009 until Khloe's separation filing in December of 2013, and the couple's divorce was finalized in December of 2016. In the book, Odom also admitted to cheating on the youngest of the Kardashian sisters so frequently he couldn't keep track of the number of times.
"I had broken my vows with Khloé so many times it's just impossible for me to remember them all," said Odom, adding, "I don't know why Khloé stayed with me."
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