Nov. 18, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) - In a new tell-all interview, two-time NBA champ and reality TV star Lamar Odom has opened up about his porn addiction, admitting that kicking porn has proved more difficult than quitting drugs.

In a video interview with the anti-porn organization Covenant Eyes, released today on LifeSiteNews, Odom says that he first encountered porn when he was 13 or 14 years old. He was immediately hooked, he says.

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“It’s just like if you’re addicted to drugs, you know, that first time can lead to an addiction. And I was definitely addicted to porn and drugs.”

Odom’s use of illegal drugs, especially cocaine, came to a near-fatal head in 2015. It was in October of that year that Odom, distraught after his split from his ex-wife Khloé Kardashian, went on a four-day bender. Eventually he was found, in a Las Vegas brothel, unresponsive. He reportedly suffered two heart attacks and twelve strokes.

After “cheating death”, Odom entered drug rehab, and successfully got clean off drugs. But his sex addiction, especially his regular use of pornography, persisted.

It wasn’t until Odom met his now-fiancée, life coach Sabrina Parr, that Odom realized how out-of-control his porn use had become. Parr herself tells Covenant Eyes that she was stunned the first time Odom watched porn in her presence. She remembers saying to him, “Hello! I’m right here. What are you doing? Why are you doing that?”

Odom says that Parr was the first woman in his life who had ever challenged him on his porn habit. However, he says he is now shocked in looking back at the ways that porn dominated his life.

He recalls that he would routinely watch porn while sleeping with other women. He would also sometimes leave his entire NBA team waiting on the bus on game days, just so that he could watch one more porn scene. As a result, he would incur a $5000 fine for being late. “It’s kind of crazy,” he admits now.

As Odom and Parr’s relationship deepened, Parr began to challenge him more directly on his porn use. “She just brought it to my attention like, no you’re not going to be in a bed with me and watch porn,” he recounts. “And she started asking me, you don’t desire me? Obviously, she’s very beautiful. It was just something that was hard for me to answer.”

Parr herself recalls that at first Odom would simply shut down when she brought up the subject. “Anytime I would bring this up to him, he would experience a lot of shame. A lot of shame,” she says. “Later I learned he didn’t have the answers because he’s never been asked these questions. Ever.”

Odom’s use of porn negatively affected their relationship, she says. “He was reaching for his phone more than reaching for me,” she says. “And I had a problem with that. Because I’m like, I want to be 100% desired especially if I’m lying right next to you.” Eventually, she simply told Odom that he had to choose between her and the porn.

Odom chose her.

But it wasn’t always easy.

“I think it was a little easier to give up drugs,” he says, "because I don’t think you can die from watching porn, even though you kill relationships, people that you really love.”

Parr and Odom tried different things to help Odom quit. One thing they would do is have Parr take Odom’s phone with her when she left the house. However, neither of them liked that, “because I feel like it was me putting him on punishment, he couldn’t just be an adult,” Parr says.

Eventually, however, they discovered Covenant Eyes. Covenant Eyes is an anti-porn organization that has created high-tech internet filtering and accountability software. Once the software is installed on a phone, tablet or computer, it blocks all adult content. Additionally, it allows users to add an “accountability partner.” Their accountability partner will then regularly receive an e-mail that flags any problematic Internet usage.

Odom’s accountability partner is Parr. Simply knowing that Parr was in his corner, holding him accountable, and working on his side to help him achieve his goals, has proved to be the magic bullet.

Every day is still a struggle, he admits. But gradually he has begun replacing porn with good habits. “You have to find something else,” Parr says she told him when he first made the effort to stop watching porn. “And he would do that. Meditate. Watch a movie. Take a walk. Exercise. Something else to calm him down. And just watching him learn these things is the turn-on. Is what makes me attracted. To watch him overcome this and not be like oh, we’re dull because this porn is gone. He’s found other ways. That was the difference between a very low relationship to now we’re very high.”

Parr admits that their relationship very nearly didn’t survive Odom’s porn use. For a lot of women, it would have been better to walk away, she admits. But, “I was able to handle it because I’ve dealt with a lot of addiction in my family. … But if I never had a real conversation, we would not be still dating. That’s a fact.”

For his part, Odom is optimistic. “At this pivotal time in my life, I know what I want, I know what makes me tick, I know what makes me happy. I’m not going to let porn disrupt that,” he says. “It’s easy.”

Meanwhile, he wants other people to know that they too can kick porn out of their lives. “Just fight through it,” he advises. “I know it’s going to be hard, but things are really going to pay off, they should be hard. And if you have kids and family, think about them. Think about the women in your family.”

It was only four years ago that Odom stared death in the face. Now, he says, he feels he’s been given a second chance to make a difference.

“God brought me back, hopefully for me to tell my testimony and help as many people as I can,” he says. “Just by sharing my story and telling them that they can overcome anything if they put God first and family first. And I’m living proof of that.”

Odom openly admits that during his career he developed a reputation for being "a womanizer, a liar, and a cheat." Now, he says, he wants to "shake this label of being selfish."

"I’m not a liar anymore," he concludes. "I don’t want to live like that anymore."