Lamar Odom’s baby mama Liza Morales is just as surprised as we are that the NBA star is tying the knot with TV personality Khloe Kardashian. Morales is clueless as to the reason behind Lamar and Khloe’s mad dash to the alter (she’s not pregnant, so they say).
Morales, who was once engaged to Odom, told E! Online in an exclusive interview that she got the news in a text message from a friend so she thought it was a joke. “I knew they were dating, because, like everybody else saw, they were going all of these places they could be seen. So that’s how I found out they were dating. It’s just really, really shocking,” she tells E! News. “Everybody, and I quote, ‘everybody’ is shocked by this.”
Morales said she would not be attending the weeding, but her daughter Destiny has met Khloe while her son declined to meet her.
Odom, 29, began dating Liza Morales when they were both just 17, and they’ve had three children together: Destiny, 11, Lamar Jr., 8, and Jayden, who died of SIDS at age 7 months in 2006. The high school sweethearts split two years ago.
Morales, who now lives in New York City with the two children, says Destiny has met the E! star, but Lamar Jr. “chose not to.” The family won’t be making a last-minute trip to California to witness the union.
“I would definitely say it is moving too fast,” Morales says. “I think that marriage is a life commitment and it is not something you rush into. You can’t think about the wedding. You have to think about the marriage and what that consists of. This is not a fabulous pair of shoes, or a fabulous custom-made suit we are talking about. So I would definitely say he is acting on impulse.”
While Morales wouldn’t comment on what she thinks of Khloé, she did say she is protective of her children.
“I will say this, I have an 11-year-old and an 8-year-old and I have to be mama bear,” Morales tells E! News. “I didn’t go out there looking for this. I am very private. Lamar is choosing this type of setting that he is getting himself into, he is kind of bringing the kids and myself into this. I did want to get my voice out there because I have to protect [my kids].“This media society that we live in is not like when I was 11. [My daughter] can Google Khloé, she can Google her father, so this is really serious to me. I know some people think this is entertainment, but for me, this is a life-changing experience, and I have to protect my kids.”
Morales wouldn’t say whether the kids are upset by their father’s sudden news.
“I don’t want to put words into my kids’ mouths,” Morales says. “I know how they feel…they talk to me and this is something that we have to work on as a family and Lamar can figure out what he has to do on his own.”
Morales also won’t say when the last time Odom saw his children, but she does hope his priorities are in line.
“Lamar has to focus on his children, his relationship with them before he can think about bringing Khloé around.”
