Lamar Odom’s Ex Liza Morales Says His Marriage to Khloé Kardashian After Knowing Her 30 Days Was ‘Shocking’ (Exclusive)

Danielle BacherThu, March 26, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC

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Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian; Liza MoralesCredit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic; Courtesy Liza Morales -

A new episode of Netflix’s Untold series chronicles the life of former NBA pro Lamar Odom, from his relationships to his NBA career to his 2015 overdose to now

In an exclusive interview, his ex Liza Morales opens up to PEOPLE about her complicated history with Odom and the pain she felt learning about his marriage to ex Khloe Kardashian

Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom premieres on Netflix on Tuesday, March 31

Liza Morales expected to marry her high school sweetheart, Lamar Odom. They were young, barely 20, when he proposed during his early years in the NBA. There was a ring, a promise and the sense that marriage was not a question of if, but when.

But then it all unraveled. Their relationship took a turn after the death of their six-month old son Jayden in 2006, and then the former Lakers star met Khloé Kardashian in August 2009. Within 30 days — and nine days after getting engaged — Odom and Kardashian were married.

“It was shocking,” Morales, who also shares kids Destiny, 27, and Lamar Jr. 23, with Odom, tells PEOPLE. “I couldn’t escape it.”

Liza Morales and Lamar Odom.Credit: Courtesy Netflix

The speed of the relationship was one thing, the spectacle was another, with the wedding filmed for Keeping Up with the Kardashians and covered by every entertainment outlet.

“It was a text message and then a phone call from Lamar, ‘By the way, I’m getting married,’ ” Morales, speaking to PEOPLE ahead of the release of Netflix's Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom, explains. “And then, my God, it was everywhere."

There is a particular kind of disorientation she says that comes from having your private life refracted back at you through tabloids and television screens. Morales describes it not as a single moment of hurt, but as something sustained.

Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian celebrate Kim Kardashian's birthday at Marquee Nightclun on October 22, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. ; Khloe Kardashian ring detail.Credit: Denise Truscello/WireImage ; Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

“It wasn’t that he got married,” she says. “It was how it happened. It did hurt me because of the way it was done. It was rushed,” she says, calling the experience painful and inescapable.

“And then he got married on TV and I couldn't go to my local CVS pharmacy without seeing it all over the tabloids, and it was just always in my face, so it made it harder to heal," she adds. "And I think hopefully Lamar learned from it.”

The irony is not lost on her that, before any of this, she had been a viewer herself. Like so many others, she watched Keeping Up With the Kardashians and found herself drawn to Khloé Kardashian’s humor and relatability.

“She was the one I liked," she says, smiling. "The Kardashians are enormous... then he's marrying one of them. That's a lot,” Morales reflects. “I was always the one who had a soft spot for Khloé because she was so funny and relatable. So yeah, it was shocking and it was hurtful.”

Time, as it does, has altered the emotional landscape. Morales and Kardashian have not spoken in years, but they are cordial. If anything, Morales suggests, there is now the possibility of understanding.

"It's been a few years since I spoke with Khloé, but no, we haven't sat down and said, 'Hey, wasn't that some real craziness?"

By 2013, Kardashian's marriage to Odom began to unravel amid reports of infidelity and struggles with substance use, leading her to file for divorce. The challenges soon played out publicly and reached a critical point in October 2015, when Odom suffered a near-fatal overdose at a Nevada brothel.

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Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom in October 2010.Credit: Andrew Southam

Just months earlier, in July 2015, the pair had signed divorce papers. However, because the judgment had not yet been finalized when Odom was hospitalized, they were still legally married. Kardashian, who was making medical decisions on his behalf, ultimately chose to pause the protracted divorce proceedings as he recovered. She supported him alongside Morales and his children as he lay in the hospital in a coma.

In the documentary, Khloé revealed to viewers she "felt such a responsibility to cover" for Odom's drug use and "protect him." In the aftermath, she described a breaking point in their relationship in the docuseries, recalling a moment when she confronted Odom after discovering he had relapsed while living in a house she had paid for to help his rehabilitation.

“I just put my life on hold to f---ing take care of you,” Kardashian said in Untold. “How did you get this? You don’t have a f---ing phone, you can’t talk.” She later realized he had been hiding a phone. “He was better than I knew. He was playing me so I can continue the lifestyle for him. I said, ‘By Monday, you need out of this house. I’m done. I’m not paying for a thing and I never want to speak to you again.’”

Their divorce was ultimately finalized in 2016.

Lamar Odom on Untold.Credit: Courtesy Netflix

“I always felt he had a purpose,” Morales says of Odom. “Like he wasn’t done.” Recovery, she says, is not a single event but an ongoing negotiation, a daily decision for Odom.

“It’s always going to be a fight,” she says. “But Lamar's fighting.”

Odom stayed out of trouble for a time, but earlier this year was arrested for an alleged DUI and two traffic violations on Jan. 17 and entered a 30-day program in Los Angeles seeking help for marijuana, his manager told PEOPLE. He pleaded not guilty, with a bench trial set for July 7.

Liza Morales on Untold doc.Credit: Courtesy Netflix

Morales, for her part, says she sees Odom more than she has in the past. Along with their children Destiny and Lamar Jr., they honored the late Jayden’s birthday as a family last Thanksgiving — something Odom hadn’t previously experienced with them.

"We’ve come a long way,” she says of Lamar, emphasizing that while they aren’t “best friends,” they are in a good place.

“It took years. I had to work on myself and heal," she confesses. "I didn't want to have hate in my heart and harbor that. I had to forgive him."

Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom streams on Netflix on Tuesday, March 31.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”