Originally appeared on E! Online
Khloe Kardashian is reflecting on her hardships.
Though, for The Good American founder, she now sees how her messy, years-long divorce from Lamar Odom prepared her for the attention that came when it was revealed Tristan Thompson cheated on her when she was nine months pregnant with True Thompson, 7.
“I feel like I’ve had many moments that sort of prepared me for other situations in my life, where I was able to endure them,” Kardashian said on the June 2 episode of her podcast Khloe in Wonder Land when answering a fan question about when she’s felt like the “strongest version” of herself. “So I feel like everything that happens in our lives is meant to happen, and even if they’re not all positive situations, I do think that there’s steps in why things happen to you.”
“For example, with me and my ex-husband,” the 41-year-old went on, referencing Odom. “Me going through such a public divorce and handling that — and yes, it was between him and I, and it was a great love that was now lost and that whole thing — it was so public.”
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Kardashian filed for divorce from the former NBA player in 2013 amid rumors of his infidelity and substance abuse issues before dismissing divorce proceedings in 2015 after his near-fatal overdose. She finalized their divorce in 2016 after seven years of marriage right before she began dating Tristan.
Kardashian — who shares daughter True and 2-year-old son Tatum Thompson with Tristan — added that of their drama, “So public that I’ve never dealt with something like that before. But I dealt with it and I had my family’s support and all of that.”
In hindsight, the “Kardashians” star views her experience with Odom as having had prepared her for what she was about to go through with the father of her children.
“That was sort of a stepping stone, if you will, for the next big traumatic thing that happened to me,” Kardashian explained, “was when Tristan cheated on me right before I gave birth.”
“Obviously no one can prepare you for something like that,” she went on, alluding to him being publicly caught cheating on her in April 2018, right before she gave birth to True. “And it wasn’t the cheating that’s like, ‘Ugh.’ People get cheated on. It’s more that I was nine months pregnant — I was having a baby two days later — and it was so public and it was everywhere.”
Looking back, Kardashian is proud of how she navigated such an impossible situation, having been there before.
“But I think I handled it the best that I knew how because I almost got a little experience of it, or a lot of experience of it, from my divorce with Lamar,” she noted. “So it sort of prepared me.”
“The Revenge Body” alum went on, “But if it was maybe just the one-off situation and while you have these newly fresh hormones and you’re just trying to even be a first time mom or be present in this moment and experience this moment, I don’t know if I would’ve been able just to handle that isolated incident.”
With both scandals well in her past, Kardashian can now appreciate them for having strengthened her and gotten her to where she is in her life now.
“Everything prepared me for each experience in my life, and I think when you overcome those experiences, you feel really strong,” she finished. “And also for how I handled so many of those moments in my life, I’m really proud of myself for the way I handled them.”
On an episode of “Call Her Daddy,” Khloé Kardashian speaks to host Alex Cooper and reveals the “most intrusive” thing her mom Kris Jenner does as her neighbor.
