Lamar Odom Talks Kobe Bryant, the Kardashians, Dancing With The Stars, & More

Hey guys, Leslie Robbins here in the Young Hollywood Studio, joined by two-time NBA champion, Olympic Bronze medalist, author, motivational speaker, Lakers legend, and dancer. Mr. Lamar Odom.

I am a dancer now.

Welcome to the Young Hollywood Studio, dancer.

Thank you.

Do you like that title? What do you think? Do you feel it?

I don't know if I'm gonna go with the dancer. I could I'm gonna go with the Laker legend. I don't know if I'm a legend, but I was a pretty good Laker.

You were a very good Laker. I was gonna ask out of all those titles, which do you feel the most? What resonates the most?

Laker legend? Yeah, I will I think so, because I think I'm most proud of the Sixth Man of the Year Award. Reason being, I was um shooting a reality show with my ex-wife when I won that award. I learned a lot from Kobe Bryant. How to be the uh healthy selfish. And that was a healthy selfish for me to pull that off that year. It was tough, but I pulled it off.

Now, you brought up Kobe, you guys are still close. What does it mean to have his support throughout everything? Your struggles, your success.

Oh, yeah, I mean, I mean, a lot. I mean, he's a great. Has an Oscar. And he told me I better win this um Dancing with the Stars.

So you have experience in reality television.

I do.

So you're gonna bring that to the table, to the ballroom.

I'm just gonna be myself.

You're gonna be yourself.

Yeah, just like I was on the show.

Right. And what does that mean dancing-wise?

Well, I've never I mean, I've danced in club. Cut a rug in a club. But never like with this like choreographed dance or anything like that. So this is all new to me. And I'm like I win if I just don't

Are you nervous?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, doing something I've never done before in front of millions of people. And they like critique you hard. Right. That's like them coming to the gym playing with me and I'm like getting on their ass after we play. Right. You know what I'm saying? It's like almost not fair.

But here's the thing. You're likable. People are rooting for you no matter what. I think that's what you have going for you. Your fans, the judges. People want you to succeed. So how does that make you feel?

Just give me the ball now. But I still I mean, I still gotta work for it. I mean, it feels good. It feels good to be liked. I care what people think at the end of the day.

Now, it's similar to your memoir title, Darkness to Light. You're kind of living that and I think that's what people like most about you is just your openness and your honesty about what you've been through.

Yeah. I'm just trying to be transparent. All my walks of life. It's easier that way.

And so when you're on a dance floor, you're putting it all out there, literally.

Yeah. Yeah. You have to be a really good dancer to lie on a dance floor and get away with it. You know what I'm saying? I don't think I'm that good of a dancer. I think all my mistakes will be like right there front page. But who cares?

So, just because you're putting on dance shoes does not mean you're hanging up your sneakers though. Competitive basketball. How's that looking for your future? Because people want to see you back.

Yeah, I think I still might play. Maybe overseas or something like that. I think my NBA days are done. I think I could still play if I got in good enough shape.

So what does that take to get back into that shape?

Just a supreme amount of um will and effort. You know? I mean, I thank God every day just to be able to walk and talk. Cuz when I came about that coma I couldn't do either or.

So what got you through all of that to where you are now? You're succeeding and shining.

Just my family, um people's prayers, I guess. Staying close to God. Trying to understand my purpose right now in life. Why I'm here.

Your kids probably?

My kids are gonna I think they're gonna come out to my first dance. Yeah. I'm like thinking about it now. Makes me really nervous. I just hope I like I get up there and don't forget like my moves. Like all my doctors say I'm like a walking miracle. But I think the only thing that I feel um the significance of the coma is like my cognitive. My memory is like really bad. So I've been just practicing, practicing, practicing. Just trying to get it down.

Well, you brought up your ex-wife when you were married to Khloe, Kim was on the show. She got booted off kinda early.

Yeah.

You know that room. You know the ballroom. You've been there as a fan, as a spectator. Now you'll be on the other side. Anything you remember about it from those days that you're gonna bring back that maybe will improve them?

I don't know. I don't know what I what I can take from them. Rob was on it too. But I think I'm trying to win it. But I'm lucky because this season, the first dance, you can't get voted off after the first dance. So no matter how bad or good I do, I'll at least make it to the second round.

Okay, well, since you're talking about being such a bad dancer, which I actually can't imagine, because you're very charming. So charming equals being a good dancer, right?

Nah.

Nah?

I mean, I'm a good flirt, but I don't know if I can flirt with any of the judges like to get extra points or anything like that.

Okay, well, let's see how good of a flirt/dancer you are. Can we can we we're gonna try some things out. I want you to stand up. Yeah, just stand up. Come on. Okay, well, since you're gonna be dancing in front of millions of people as you said, you know, on Dancing with the Stars coming up, I want to test your knowledge on some dance crazes that have happened in our time to see what you know and what you don't know. What dance moves?

Yeah. See if I'm hip enough to know.

Yeah.

Probably not.

I think I think you're hip enough. We're gonna I'm gonna test you right now. But try it. Okay. First one, cha-cha.

That's like a Spanish dance. I don't know how to do it. Right? Yeah. Right? Isn't it? Cha-cha-cha. Cha-cha-cha. I don't know how to do it.

You got it. Do you want do you face it? Right? Oh, come with me. Oh, I'll go back. Do-do cha-cha-cha. Now come. Oh, now I'm going forward. Cha-cha-cha. Hey.

Okay, that's cool. Yeah. I think that's the cha-cha. I'll pull it off.

You're winning. The robot.

I got a weak robot, but.

It was stronger than mine. You want to know. Yeah. Vogue.

I like it.

You like that? Dude, you're winning. Okay, here we go. The moonwalk.

That's the MJ move. Fire.

Okay. The twist.

Yeah.

You got it, you got it, you got it. The running man.

I love it.

Okay. The Charleston.

Right? That's how you do the Charleston, right?

Yeah. You're on it. You're on it. Okay. Uh, the Fosse.

That one. Oh.

Yeah, I don't know either. The Carlton?

Yes. Right?

Yeah, and he won Dancing with the Stars.

He did win Dancing with the Stars.

So you're on it. You're on it. Okay. Last one, the Macarena.

Oh, that's um. I'll do this. This. Something like that.

Here, let's do this. This. And this. This. You're right. This, this and then I think this. And then you jump that way. And I do it again, right? I remember the song. Fine head. Shake your tush. That was it. You know what I see in your future? Mirror ball trophy.

That's what I'm on. Boom. That's the mission I'm on. Lamar Odom. Dancing with the Stars.