Khloé Kardashian Wasn't The Same After Her Divorce From Lamar Odom
Long before Khloé Kardashian was ever caught up in the seemingly never-ending cycle of Tristan Thompson drama, she was married to Lamar Odom — and it's safe to say that their divorce had a significant impact on her life.
While Kim Kardashian was the first of the famous sisters to tie the knot, hers was an elopement. That meant Khloé's wedding to Odom was the first real wedding among the sisters — and what a wedding it proved to be. For starters, the then-couple wed one month after their first meeting. On top of that — as longtime fans of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" will likely recall — the whole wedding was planned in over nine days. Cue a frantic Kris Jenner, giving away drama, and a Vera Wang cameo. In short, it was the stuff of reality TV wedding dreams.
That said, the union between Khloé and Odom went beyond a TV special. Despite their swift marriage, they stayed together for four years before Khloé eventually filed for divorce – for the first time. The reality star famously withdrew the divorce papers in 2015 when Odom was hospitalized for a drug overdose. However, in May 2016, she filed again — and by the end of that year, they were officially divorced. Given all the tumult, it only makes sense that the divorce affected Khloé in a big way. So, what has she said about it?
The split played a role in her fitness journey
In the years since her split from Lamar Odom, Khloé Kardashian has become the family's undisputed fitness guru — and that's no coincidence.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan in 2015, Kardashian explained that she'd first started working out toward the end of her relationship with Odom. "When [we] were having issues, I decided to channel my energy into working out ... The gym was my only refuge." It only makes sense, then, that once divorce proceedings began, she took full advantage of said refuge. As she told InStyle in March 2023, working out became one of the few things she could control. "In life we can't control everything. But the gym, what I put in it, I know I'm going to get out of it," she pointed out. The endorphins certainly didn't hurt, either. As she told the outlet, even on her worst days, working out helped the reality star re-center herself. "Right when I'm done, I feel so much lighter," she explained.
It only makes sense that years after the divorce, and in the wake of all she's endured during her on-and-off relationship with Tristan Thompson, she's applied the same strategy. As noted by Women's Health, in the wake of the Jordyn Woods situation, Kardashian shared snaps of her gym equipment to her Instagram stories alongside the caption, "Therapy."
...but she's admitted that, at first, she became obsessive
While Khloé Kardashian has said that working out post-split was therapeutic, she's also admitted that at the start of her journey, she became hyper-fixated on her weight.
"When I first started, I cared so much," she told InStyle. The "Revenge Body" star mused that it may have had something to do with her age. After all — at the time of the divorce — she was in her early 30s. There was also a lot of pressure that she'd faced for years until that point, with the media constantly scrutinizing her figure. Having said that, as she explained to Cosmopolitan, even at the height of what she faced, she admitted: "I thought I was cute. I had all this confidence." That likely played a role in her breaking the cycle of obsessing over her weight once she became aware of it. "I don't even look at a scale anymore. I think it's really unhealthy. I haven't in years. They're just numbers," she told the outlet.
The youngest of the Kardashian sisters has undoubtedly gone through a lot since her divorce from Lamar Odom. From motherhood to all her ups and downs with Tristan Thompson, it's been a wild ride. Luckily, her new outlet seems to be a grounding force for her through it all.