Kardashian's ex and former NBA star found unconscious in brothel
He was once among the superstars of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Lamar Odom played 14 seasons in the NBA with superstars such as Kobe Bryant, who was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Off the basketball court, Odom, 35, was a staple at high-society parties as then-husband of reality television star Khloe Kardashian in the series Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Those were the good times.
On Tuesday, Odom was hospitalised after he was found unconscious at a Nevada brothel, Reuters reported quoting law enforcement officials.
The incident seems to be a reflection of his career and his personal life, which went downhill, apparently, after Kardashian filed for divorce in 2013.
The divorce was finalised in July this year.
The couple had married in 2009.
In August 2013, Odom, who was by then the subject of a string of news stories about alleged drug use and marriage troubles, was arrested for drink driving, AFP reported.
The brothel, Love Ranch, in Crystal, Nevada, is about 50km northwest of Las Vegas.
Entertainment news website TMZ reported that Odom, who last played in the NBA for the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2012-13 season, is also in a coma as his lungs and kidneys suffered serious problems.
VIAGRA PILLS
Reports claimed that he had taken up to 10 herbal Viagra tablets at the brothel.
Odom went to the legal brothel, the Love Ranch, in Crystal over the weekend and ordered a bottle of cognac.
It is understood that a female worker at the ranch last saw him at around 6am on Tuesday (Tuesday night, Singapore time).
At about 3pm that day, brothel workers Ryder Cherry and Monica Monroe discovered him unresponsive and called for a manager.
Brothel owner Dennis Hof said that an employee saw "mucus-like" liquid pouring from Odom's mouth and nose.
Said Mr Hof: "It's terrible. You got people, the girls that found him, out here that are very upset."
He said there were no signs that Odom had been doing drugs other than the herbal Viagra.
Mr Hof told the Los Angeles Times the athlete had "wanted to get away from everybody, wanted to have fun."
Odom's early life was also troubled.
He was estranged from his heroin-addict father at an early age, said AFP, and was looked after by his grandmother after his mother died of colon cancer when he was 12.
In 2006, his six-month-old son Jayden, one of three children with his one-time girlfriend Liza Morales, died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
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