Lamar Odom was in great spirits while chatting with E! News on the orange carpet at the 2017 Kids' Choice Awards with his children, marking his first carpet appearance following years of turmoil.

It also marked the first official celebrity appearance for the basketball star, who rarely attends public events, in more than a year and his first since he began a month-long rehab stint in December.

"I'm doing great," he told E! News at the Kids' Choice Awards Saturday, while standing with his daughter Destiny Odom, 18, and son Lamar Odom Jr., 14. "Just chilling, relaxing, just here with my kids."

None of Khloe's family members attended the ceremony. However, Blac Chyna, who shares baby daughter Dream with Khloe's brother Rob Kardashian, brought her son King Cairo. She and Lamar did not interact.

The former NBA player is continuing on his road to recovery after his near-fatal drug overdose in October 2015. His road to sobriety had been marred by setbacks and he has also been dealing with the official end of his 2009 marriage to Khloe Kardashian—their divorce was finalized just after he began his recent rehab stint.

Lamar is occasionally spotted at celebrity events, he tends to avoid making a big entrance. Before Saturday, he last walked an arrivals carpet in July 2012, when he appeared with Caitlyn Jenner at the ESPYs.

Two months prior, he walked an orange carpet with Khloe at the annual Race to Erase MS Event and a blue carpet with her, her sisters Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner and her mother Kris Jenner at Cody Simpson's album preview party, just after his and his then-wife's reality show Khloé & Lamar ended its two-season run.

Around that time, Lamar was going through some professional turmoil—adapting after a trade from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Clippers, then being let go in 2013 as a free agent.

He underwent rehab for substance abuse and his relationship with Khloe suffered. She ultimately filed for divorce that year. Lamar's NBA career came to an end in 2014 after joining the New York Knicks for three months.

In October 2015, Lamar was hospitalized for a drug overdose at a Las Vegas brothel, which prompted Khloe to rush to his side and suspend divorce proceedings. In February 2016, he joined her and her family to make a rare appearance at Kanye West's Yeezy Season 3 fashion show, which also marked his and Khloe's first joint appearance in years. She refiled the papers last May.

"There will always be a deep affection there for one another, but both of them have moved on,"a source told E! News. "This divorce provides a natural end to that chapter in their life."

Lamar has not detailed what he plans to do next in his career. He has expressed interest in assuming a coaching position with the Los Angeles Lakers, the team that made him famous. Former teammate Luke Walton, who now serves as the team's head coach, said in January Lamar had reached out to him in the past to talk about the possibility.

In December, multiple reports said he was set to star in a reality show about his recovery. A source told E! News at the time that nothing is confirmed and no deal has been made.

Source:
courtesy of E!ONLINE

by CORINNE HELLER

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