Khloe Kardashian ‘always feared’ Lamar Odom overdose, still loves former NBA star

In the midst of a very public divorce, former Clippers and Lakers forward Lamar Odom very publicly overdosed on drugs at a Las Vegas brothel in mid-October.

Odom was found unconscious at Love Ranch – initial reports suggested Odom mixed alcohol and “herbal viagra,” though reports since suggested “cocaine and other drugs” may have played a role. Odom slipped into a coma as a result of the overdose. Throughout the entire ordeal, his wife, Khloe Kardashian remained by his side. Wednesday on The Howard Stern Show, Kardashian, who has continued to try to finalize her divorce with Odom, spoke about the ordeal.

“I never wanted this to happen,” Kardashian told Howard, “of course not. But I always feared this would happen. That’s what prompted our divorce.”

Kardashian maintained power of attorney throughout Odom’s hospitalization – he’s since been released – and took the role seriously. Howard joked Kardashian could’ve pulled the plug on Odom, who was on life support, but Kardashian always had Odom’s “best interest” in mind. In fact, she took it upon herself to shield Odom from the whirlwind of media coverage surrounding his overdose.

“One day I came in, and he was like, Googling, ‘Lamar Odom overdose,'” Kardashian recalled. “He saw surveillance footage online. He was watching a video, and I like, grabbed the iPad, and I said, ‘What the f-ck are you doing? I’ve been trying to protect you, I don’t want this to hurt you.'”

At that point, Odom hadn’t even seen TV coverage of his hospitalization.

“And I have to remember,” Kardashian continued, “He has no idea what people know. He doesn’t know if we only found him, and this is private.”

The two celebrities had a notorious marriage – the two wed 30 days after meeting one another – and subsequent falling out. Odom’s infidelity is what ultimately led to the reality TV star filing for divorce.

“All these rumors kept coming out in the weeklies. And as much as I know that they’re bullsh-t, where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Kardashian told Howard. “This one girl did an interview, and she was so adamant. And when I confronted [Odom], he blamed another teammate.

“I genuinely am blown away,” Kardashian continued. “When did he fit that in? I don’t know. … It is humiliating on any level, but I found out that he was cheating on me the majority of our marriage. I just didn’t know.”

Kardashian and Howard speculated that, amidst Odom’s history of cheating, he may suffer from sex addiction in addition to his drug addiction.

“Love is blind, and not that I don’t think, ‘This will never happen to me,’ but Lamar was so great at making me feel like I was the only one, and I’m this princess. I never speculated cheating,” Kardashian said. “Nothing was on his cell phone. He had an assistant. They were all on his assistant’s phone. So he was really crafty. … Oh, it’s disgusting.”

Kardashian’s name found its way onto entertainment websites for a second reason last October, too – as the butt of a joke made by Amy Schumer during an SNL monologue. Schumer said:

“Is that a great message for little girls? A whole family of women who take the faces they were born with as, like, a light suggestion? We used to have Khloe. Khloe was ours, right? But then Khloe, she lost half her body weight. She lost a Kendall. And we have nothing.”

Schumer’s shot was related to Kardashian’s body transformation over the past three years – a transformation of which Kardashian’s proud.

Kardashian said she “loves” Schumer, but did offer some light criticism of the monologue.

“I was more upset that someone claims that they’re, like, a girl’s girl, and that they’re all about women’s empowerment, and [then] she says I’m not relatable because I’m not fat anymore,” Kardashian told Howard.

“It’s funny, and for some reason I thought it was a little worse, but it wasn’t so bad,” Kardashian continued. “I also think people make fun of us because they know it’s gonna be in the press later. So it’s like, OK, cool.”

Since filing for divorce from Odom, Kardashian’s found a new boyfriend – Houston Rockets superstar James Harden. The two met at a birthday party at the Staples Center thrown by Kardashian’s sister, Kim, for Kanye West.

“She had all of his friends, and some athletes were playing basketball,” Kardashian remembered, “so I met him there.”

Harden, like Odom, is black. Unfortunately, Kardashian said she’s dealt with negative reaction to her biracial relationships both on social media and in person – particularly in Dallas.

“[I’ve heard] ‘I’m a n—er lover, a this, a that,’ I’ve had words keyed in our car,” Kardashian said. “They would call Lamar ‘boy’ all the time.”

Howard wondered – another basketball player? Is that really the right move? But Kardashian admitted, she has a type.

“I like athletes. I like to be active.”

For more coverage of The Howard Stern Show, follow @sternshow on Twitter.