Twittersphere and the Instagram community responded in empathetic unity to Lamar Odom being found unconscious in a Las Vegas brothel surrounded by sex, drugs and dishonor. Initial memes clowning Odom were blasted by social media’s self-assigned gatekeepers, suggesting prayer for Odom was the voice of public opinion. Reports of Khloe and team Kardashian rushing to Odom’s side and flying in his children and their mother were applauded. But, there is still a elephant, or rather, herd of Kardashians in the room.
Until hooking up with Khloe Kardashian, Lamar Odom was a successful basketball player that received occasional hits via sports media from his conquests on the basketball court. After becoming Mr. Khloe Kardashian, Odom lost his envied spot on the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and ultimately his career as a professional NBA player. Soon after the status left, Khloe herself disappeared and Odom unraveled in front of the public eye. His last public sighting was looking disheveled in front of a bush for TMZ cameras. He threatened the photographers to leave him alone or he’d expose everything he knows about the Kardashians.
Odom’s history shows signs of trauma in that his mother passed from colon cancer when he was twelve and his father was a noted substance abuser. Still we didn’t see signs of Odom’s own issue with drugs until after he connected with Khloe Kardashian and became a member of the reality circus that is the Kardashians.
According to Atlanta-based psychologist Dr. Dr. RJ Verwayne people can act as a catalyst to unleash our inner demons or mental illness.
“Absolutely certain people can bring out the worst in us, or can bring a mental illness to the surface,” Dr. Verwayne says. “Even the element of fame could act as a catalyst to bring out the worst in someone’s personality or their bi-polar or schizophrenia disorder.” Dr. Verwayne also pointed out that when we experience trauma as a child, a person will mentally stagnate at the age they experienced the trauma. For example, if a child loses both parents at age thirteen and comes to a counseling session years later, the counselor may realize the mentality of the patient is stunted from the age they experienced the tragedy.
Only Lamar Odom knows if his introduction to Khloe Kardashian and their E! inspired fame lead to his very public breakdown in a Las Vegas brothel. What we can say with all certainty is that without the attention brought his way via the Kardashians Odom’s life would probably be very different today. Regardless of the stigmas we hope Lamar Odom regains his health and will find his true self along the way to recovery.
