Lamar Odom was key player in recent ‘Kardashians’ episode

Lamar Odom hasn’t appeared on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” in more than a year, yet he’s remained a key player on the E! reality show featuring his soon-to-be-ex wife.

Odom, whose divorce from Khloe Kardashian is pending judicial review in L.A. County Superior Court, has been a major subject of discussion during the program’s 10th season. The season finale aired Sunday, just days before the former NBA star was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel on Tuesday evening.

An Oct. 4 episode of the show centered largely around Kardashian’s ongoing phone relationship with Odom. When Kim Kardashian witnessed her sister talking on the phone to Odom, she became upset and urged Khloe to fully cut ties with him in order to move past their marriage.

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“I love Lamar and care about him a lot,” Khloe explained later in a private on-camera interview. “It makes me feel good to hear his voice and know he’s doing OK.”

Khloe has remained a supportive force in Odom’s life despite his alleged drug use, and has even voiced concern on the reality show that she ended her relationship with him prematurely. Kris Jenner, the family matriarch, also admitted to keeping in touch with Odom via text message -- an admission that upset Kim on the Oct. 4 episode.

“I don’t understand it. Like, what good can come out of it?” Kim fretted. “There’s been such a loss of trust for over two years that will take a lifetime to repair. So what’s the point in involving the whole family again?”

“Never once have you asked how I feel,” replied Khloe, who wed Odom after a whirlwind monthlong courtship. “I married him thinking for the rest of my life, I would love to be married to him. And I will always love him.”

Despite keeping in touch with Odom via telephone, Khloe has maintained relative distance from him -- on “Keeping Up,” anyway. Later in the episode, security guards informed Khloe that Odom had turned up at her Las Vegas club appearance. Fearing an uncomfortable run-in, Khloe left the club and retreated to her room.

And yet later in the episode, when she learned Odom’s childhood best friend, Jamie Sangouthia, died suddenly, she immediately jumped on the phone to console Odom.

“I’m always going to be there for Lamar, especially when something as tragic as this happens,” she told the camera. “I’m really on high alert for Lamar because I think anything will set him to spiral, and that’s kind of the last thing I want for him.”

Follow @AmyKinLA on Twitter for Hollywood news.

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