Lamar Odom's most recent video interview lays into TMZ for biased coverage against black men
Lamar Odom had something to get off his chest. Two months ago, with TMZ's cameras rolling, Odom unloaded a poignant and blistering critique of the media company he says was "beating him down."...
Lamar Odom had something to get off his chest.
Two months ago, with TMZ’s cameras rolling, Odom unloaded a poignant and blistering critique of the media company he says was “beating him down.”
“You all have discredited me,” Odom said, looking directly into the TMZÂ photog’s lens. “Beat me down. Took my confidence. Took everything away from me. You will not do it again.”
Odom continued, blasting TMZ’s coverage of and bias against black men:
I know what your company is about, and I know what they doing to brothers. I know whatcha y’all doing to the rappers. I know you want them beefing. I know you want them arguing. Y’all don’t do Leo [DiCaprio] like that. You don’t do Brad [Pitt] like that. Y’all don’t do them like that.
It was an emotional and truthful moment from the former NBA star. Yes, his life was unraveling — drugs, women, infidelity, addiction, divorce — but here he was letting the world know he wasn’t invincible.
He read the TMZ headlines. The gossip sites, the chatter — it affected him.
Now, Odom is literally fighting for his life. No, TMZ didn’t cause Odom’s problems, nor did the Kardashian machine force him to behave recklessly countless times.
Odom, just like so many others, experienced unspeakable tragedies from an early age. He excelled on the court — on the hardwood — a place he didn’t have to answer to anyone. A place he could just cope in his own way and at his own pace.
It’s hard for many of us to sympathize with someone who has made more than $100 million in his NBA career. But maybe we just need to take a minute and understand that life is complex. And Odom’s problems did not begin when he started to appear on reality TV.
Odom was essentially raised by his grandmother, Mildred Mercer, in South Jamaica, Queens. His mother died when he was 12 due to colon cancer.
His father, Joe, was a heroin addict unable to raise Lamar on his own. In 2013, Odom shared his thoughts publicly on Twitter:
He wasn’t there 2 raise me. He was absent ALL of my life due to his own demons
That type of instability and complexity can wreak havoc in the mind and soul of a young child in ways that can be truly difficult to see. It’s not always the case, but too often it is.
And while no one really knows how those early life tragedies affected him, the game of basketball was definitely the joyful distraction he threw his attention into.
Odom blossomed on the court and was one of the country’s top players in high school — while also struggling in the classroom and faltering in his own personal life, besieged by attention and fame.
He attended three different high schools before finally getting on the right track with his athletics and his education. Soon after choosing to attend UNLV, a Sports Illustrated report challenged the validity of his ACT score, and scandal ensued.
He had taken money from boosters, got caught up with prostitutes and found himself kicked out of school and ostracized from the game he loved.
He eventually transferred to Rhode Island and made enough of a name for himself in that one year to get drafted fourth overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1999 NBA draft, but it should be surprising to no one that giving a troubled kid a $2.4 million a year salary only compounded his problems.
In Odom’s second year, he found himself suspended several games for marijuana use and failing multiple drug tests.
Two seasons later, Odom’s grandmother passed away, and any semblance of stability and comfort went with her. He was rich, famous, talented and now, all alone.
Three years later, on that exact date, tragedy struck Odom again as his seven-month old son Jayden died suddenly and unexpectedly due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome — while Odom was in New York for his aunt’s funeral.
While grieving with his family in New York, Odom was robbed at gunpoint by a teenager in Queens. The teen allegedly fired a shot in Odom’s direction while fleeing.
When Odom returned to New York in 2011, a year that may have been one of his best professionally, it proved to be one of the most difficult times in his life personally.
Odom’s 24-year old cousin was murdered, and a day after attending the funeral, Odom was a passenger in a SUV that collided with a motorcycle which careened off the street and killed a 15-year old boy — right in front of Odom’s eyes.
He admitted that witnessing all of that death took an extreme toll on him mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
He tried to deal with this all while simultaneously managing the needs of his estranged, drug-addicted father, who would pop in every now and then and ask for money.
And yes, he met Khloe Kardashian in the fall of 2009 and quickly married her. Their reality show, Khloe and Lamar, was as drama-filled as you’d expect from two high profile celebrities.
Khlooe filed for divorce in 2013, citing irreconcilable differences. Odom was on and off with drug use and other women. Khloe was at a breaking point.
Certainly Lamar Odom was too — in a different way.
Two months ago, he looked into a TMZ photog’s camera and let him know he was hurting. He didn’t appreciate what he felt was biased coverage. It was a brutally honest moment from someone who appeared to be approaching a brutal end.
While it’s truly impossible for us to take all of our biases and put ourselves in his shoes, the least we could do is attempt to understand how a beautifully bright boy from Queens found himself in this predicament, without attempting to believe that his wealth and his fame could soothe and cure the tumult in his spirit.
theGrio.com staff contributed to this article
