Lamar Odom never experienced "pure" love until he met the Kardashian family.

Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom during their marriage

Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom during their marriage

The 35-year-old basketball player's estranged wife Khloé Kardashian admits she has always "felt so bad" for her former partner - whom she separated from in 2013 - because his close female relatives have passed away and his father has always been "take, take, take" and no one ever called him just to see how he was.

Speaking on her talk show, 'Kocktails With Khloé', she said: "Lamar, my ex/current husband, confusing situation.

"I love and adore Lam, but I would always feel so bad for him because his mother passed away, and then his grandmother who raised him passed away, and then his father -- I love his father -- but it was always take, take, take, take, take. I'd always be like, 'Your dad's so nice!'

"But Lamar would say, 'No one ever calls me to say, 'Hi, how are you?' or 'Great game' or 'I love you.' ...

"And when Lam and I met, and my family just embraced him, he was so -- and these are his words -- he was saying, 'I was self-sabotaging myself because I'd never felt love that was that pure. I was confused why no one wanted anything else from me but just me.' "

It was recently claimed the 31-year-old star is worried about resuming divorce proceedings - which she put on hold following Lamar's near-fatal collapse last October - because the 36-year-old sportsman has been drinking again and she is concerned how her moving forward would affect him.

Despite his past problems, Lamar is said to be adamant he doesn't need rehab, and visiting bars is just him trying to live a normal life, but his estranged wife and her family are certain that isn't the case, having experienced the same situation with him multiple times in the past.