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Netflix's ‘Untold’ unpacks Lamar Odom’s struggles with drugs and relationship with Khloé Kardashian

Two-time NBA star Lamar Odom opens up on his drug-related struggles, battles with addiction, and the subsequent price that he had to pay.

The recently released Netflix documentary 'Untold: The Death and Life of Lamar Odom' might initially baffle audiences owing to its intriguing title. However, it isn't an account of Odom's death since the former 14-year NBA star is alive and well. But the documentary does take an incisive look into Odom's battles with addiction, and the subsequent price that he had to pay on account of his former transgressions. The documentary also examines his former relationship with Khloé Kardashian. 

Odom is a two-time NBA champion and is currently blazing the trail of sobriety, putting his years of addiction behind him. Speaking in a recent interview before the release of the Netflix documentary, Odom revealed that he was 60 days sober and had previously completed a one-month stay at rehab in February. Before that, Odom had been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, and his bench trial is scheduled for July 7. Speaking about the documentary with USA Today, Odom explained, "I was telling my girlfriend on the way here, it's like swimming in a cesspool of trauma. And I'm trying to get out of it, but the story reels me back into that pool every time. But I just know I'm bigger than the situation, and I hope to help a lot of people by giving my testimony. Not just with the story, but just in life, that we can all overcome addiction."  

Being a recovering drug addict, Odom realized that circling back to his past trauma and transgressions wouldn't do him any good. In this context, he remarked, "Every recovering addict knows that you want to kind of stay away from things that were traumatizing in your life." The 46-year-old former NBA star has had his fair share of near-death experiences. On October 13, 2015, Odom was found unconscious and unresponsive at a now-demolished brothel about 80 miles away from Las Vegas. The place was known as the 'Love Ranch,' and Odom was rescued by an onlooker who immediately called 9-1-1, begging, "They need to hurry, please, because he’s got blood hanging out of his nose, white stuff coming out of his mouth. They can’t get him to wake up."

Upon the arrival of paramedics and the police, Love Ranch employees revealed to the Nye County Sheriff's office that Odom had indulged in cocaine the previous Saturday and had also taken multiple sexual performance enhancement drugs. He spent three months recovering at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and claims to have suffered 12 strokes and six heart attacks. Despite his ordeal, Odom claimed that he did not overdose on cocaine when he remarked, "I didn't have any cocaine to take to the brothel that day, and I was kind of f------ heated that I just signed these divorce papers, and I thought I was going to live out a young addict mind’s dream and go to this brothel with some cocaine and go all out that night. And that just wasn't the case."