In the News: Lamar Odom Returns Home, But Will He Go to Rehab?

Lamar Odom surfaced near his home in Los Angeles on Monday, looking gaunt and tired amid  rumors of his battle with drug addiction.

Sources with TMZ say the NBA star still remains unsure about seeking treatment but is “receptive.”

A week ago, he rejected an attempted intervention by his wife, leading to his getting kicked to the curb and going off the grid.

Radar Online reports that Lamar has been abusing the powerful painkiller, OxyContin, sometimes known as “hillbilly heroin” rather than crack cocaine. Sources told them that the ball player wasn’t tossed out of the league from random drug tests because he had a valid prescription.

Intervention attempts by teammates from the Los Angeles Clippers and his former team the Los Angeles Lakers at an L.A. hotel on Monday were rejected by Odom.

“There was a bit of time it appeared that Lamar was going to admit publicly his addiction and go to rehab, again,” the source told Radar. “But then, he abruptly bolted from the hotel and left the premises.”

E! reported that Kloe Kardashian kept Lamar’s drug addiction a secret from her family for most of the marriage, and that Kim was “shocked” to learn about the problem.

Odom, 32, has faced drug accusations before. In 2001, when playing for the Clippers, he violated NBA drug policies twice in eight months.

Apologizing at a press conference he admitted to using marijuana and told reporters and fans, “I’ve made a couple [of mistakes] and I may make a couple again, but hopefully they won’t be as big as this one.”

At age 12, Odom lost his mother to colon cancer. On Khloe & Lamar and to ESPN, Odom spoke of his father’s struggle with heroin addiction. He went to live with his grandmother and later Jerry DeGregorio, the coach of his Rhode Island college team.

Talking to the Miami Herald in 2003 about his marijuana use, Odom said, “I just couldn’t control myself in L.A. … the lifestyle that I was living and the things I had access to … A lot of times I’d think about it and say, ‘Damn, am I fighting my father’s demons … ‘ ”

If your loved one is in need of drug addiction treatment,  please give us a call at 800-951-6135.

Sources:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20728557,00.html

http://www.eonline.com/news/453436/kim-kardashian-shocked-to-learn-about-lamar-odom-s-drug-problems