Keeping Up With The Kardashians Touches On Lamar Odom’s Condition

At the beginning of last night's episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, the family is prepping a big party for Kris's 60th — when suddenly everything is upended. Kris receives a phone call alerting her to the fact that Khloé's estranged ex, Lamar Odom, has been found unconscious in a Nevada brothel. It's not clear whether he'll live or die. Kris, Kim, and Khloé rush to Lamar's hospital bedside. At this point, something truly unprecedented happens. The Kardashians stopped filming — for two full weeks. Text running across the screen of the episode alerts viewers to the fact that the cameras were off during this tough period of time. It was the right thing to do, of course: Lamar's overdose is his own experience, not a plot device to be exploited as ratings gold for a reality show. Despite the sensitive decision to turn off the cameras, Odom's privacy may still have been breached during last night's show. The famous family — Kris in particular — discussed his condition and progress with veiled terminology, referring to his survival as a "miracle" without getting into the brass tacks of his condition. And before the program even aired, Khloé made clear that this would be the episode featuring her estranged husband's personal and medical emergency.

This piece of micro-commentary made sense: After all, Lamar's issues are the most personal for Khloé, and to a certain degree, his breakdown is a major part of her life, too. It's something she should be able to talk about from her own point of view. At the end of the day, it would have been weird if the headline-grabbing incident hadn't made its way into the show at all. It is a reality series, after all, and Lamar's hospitalization is very much part of the Kardashian reality.