Directed by Ryan Duffy, Netflix’s ‘Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom’ is a documentary that lives up to its title by underscoring all the struggles the former NBA athlete has faced. It actually goes beyond the media narrative as well as public scrutiny to really shine a light upon how hidden pressures and private losses resulted in him going down a near-fatal path. We assert near-fatal because he indeed almost lost everything in October 2015, but thankfully, he was able to make a full recovery thanks to support from his loved ones, especially his kids.
Lamar Odom Once Shared a Strained Relationship With His Children
Although high school sweethearts Liza Morales and Lamar Odom were indeed planning a cozy future together by the late 1990s, they never expected their family would expand so soon. The Queens, New York, natives were just freshmen in college when Destiny Morales Odom entered their lives in 1998, but they were over the moon about it and even got engaged in 2000. They then welcomed Lamar Morales Odom (aka LJ) in 2002 before completing their unit with Jayde n Morales Odom in 2005, but alas, nothing panned out as they had expected.
Not only did Liza and Lamar sadly lose Jayden when he was merely 6½ months old, but they also called off their engagement not long after due to his alleged addictions as well as infidelity. The former has since claimed that the devastation of their son’s death, the pressure of the public eye, her fiancé’s alleged affairs, and his reported drug benders just got too much for her. She still tried to remain amicable with him because they did co-parent their two older children, according to the aforementioned original film, yet things grew increasingly strained over time.
As per Destiny and LJ’s own accounts in the production, their father wasn’t much in their lives while they were growing up because they believe his focus was simply more on fun and fame. It was to such an extent that they felt abandoned, Destiny said, especially because he also flaked on important plans like letting them tag along on the NBA Championship parade after he won. The fact that they weren’t invited to his wedding with Khloé Kardashian in 2009 hurt them, too, yet they both still came to the hospital in 2015 when he was fighting for his life to be by his side. During the days he was in a coma, they spoke to him about their happy memories of him, whether it was on or off the court.
Lamar Odom’s Youngest Son Died of SIDS in 2006
Liza and Lamar were both in New York in June 2006 for a family emergency when their entire world shattered apart as the former woke up to silence rather than her infant’s cries. Since Jayden was merely 6½-months-old at the time, silence was extremely unusual, so she went to check up on him in the exact same spot she had laid him down to sleep hours prior. According to her account in the documentary, she had to turn the baby over as he had somehow gotten on his tummy, and that’s when she realized something was terribly wrong because his lips were blue.
Liza immediately had a relative at home call 911, whereas Lamar met her in the hospital since he had admittedly gone out to party the evening prior, but it was already too late. Jayden had passed away in his sleep on June 29, 2006, from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), which is the unexplained, unfathomable death of a child of less than one year of age. As per the couple in the original, the athlete didn’t really cry as he believed he had to be strong for his family, and then he did his best to turn his grief into motivation in his sport.
However, Liza, Lamar, and Khloé all now think his unprocessed pain over the loss became the crutch for his later struggles. Yet, the former athlete still remembers his late son fondly, as evidenced in the way he opened up about him during his 2022 stint on ‘Celebrity Big Brother.’ He said, “Whenever I would come into the room, his eyes would just follow me wherever I went until I picked him up… He was a special baby.” He continued, “Him coming to me in dreams lets me know that he’s not too far away, and I know I’ll see him in the afterlife.”
Destiny and LJ Have Reconnected With Their Father in Recent Years
While neither Destiny nor LJ shies away from expressing how much they wish they had their father by their side when growing up, they do not hold the past against him in any capacity. This much was evident from the way they cared for him during his 2015 ordeal, as well as the way they have opened up and let him into their lives once an olive branch was extended. However, the initial period wasn’t easy, as the kids held an intervention to help him get on the right track after years of drug abuse. They even gave him an ultimatum, expressing that he either go to rehab or they would not speak to him anymore because it was high time he started caring for himself.
“When your parent is an addict, and they get clean, it’s like a whole new world,” Destiny told People later on, in 2017. “A whole new person, really. It’s crazy what therapy and rehab can do to a person.”She added, “He’s just a lot more clear and in the moment, and he’s more apologetic. He’s able to see more of the pain that he’s caused when he’s clean.” From what we can tell, over the past few years, Lamar has truly built a tight-knit relationship with both his children, often referring to LJ as his friend and Destiny as his guiding light.
Coming to their individual standing, it appears 28-year-old Destiny is an aspiring model and rising influencer who currently splits her time between California and New York. She has already featured in Teen Vogue and done campaigns for several local brands, but her focus these days seems to be on establishing herself as a fashion, makeup, and lifestyle-focused brand. For this, she recently even launched a YouTube Channel. As for LJ, the 23-year-old also seems to split his time between California and New York, but his focus is more traditional in the sense that he hopes to make a name for himself as an entrepreneur. Whenever he is not focusing on work, though, he spends time with loved ones, especially his father, with whom he watches football, goes on rides, and plays video games. Lamar’s growth is something he and Destiny are incredibly grateful for and proud of.
Read More: Liza Morales: Where is Lamar Odom’s Ex-Fiance Now?
