Netflix viewers have been thrown off by the name of the platform’s new documentary about Lamar Odom.
The feature-length film looks back at the former NBA player’s life, including his highly publicized struggles and the medical emergency he suffered in October 2015, when he was found unresponsive at a brothel near Las Vegas.
The Netflix documentary includes fresh interviews and new details about what happened, with contributions from Odom himself, his ex-wife Khloé Kardashian, and the brothel’s former manager.
Kardashian originally filed for divorce in December 2013, but later halted the process after Odom was hospitalized following a severe drug overdose.
After Odom was discovered unconscious in Nevada, Kardashian rushed to his side and chose to put the divorce on hold so she could help care for him. He suffered kidney failure, 12 strokes and six heart attacks, and spent several days in a medically induced coma.
Odom has said doctors were pessimistic about his chances of recovery, and that his family were advised to prepare to say goodbye.
Following his recovery, Kardashian—who had helped support him through his rehabilitation—resumed the divorce, which was finalized in 2016.
Once he was released from hospital, Kardashian reportedly arranged for him to stay in a property close to her home in Calabasas, and also hired help including a chef and a caretaker.
That turbulent chapter is central to Netflix’s new release, Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom, which landed on the streaming service today (March 31).
But the documentary’s title has unsettled some people online, with viewers saying the phrasing made them think Odom had died. The confusion was enough to send some to search engines asking: ‘is Lamar Odom dead?’
“The dude is not dead… wtf?!?” one confused fn wrote on social media.
Another confused viewer asked: “Why they said the death and life of the Lamar Odom like he’s dead.”
And a third wrote: “Hell nah… the title of this documentary is a mindf**k… I thought he died… I quickly jumped on Google to see when.”
Odom is alive, and the title is intended to reference how close he came to dying during the 2015 overdose, as well as the process of rebuilding his life afterward.
Kardashian appears in the documentary and reflects on some of the most difficult moments of their marriage, including the period when Odom’s drug use escalated into what she describes as a ‘dark situation’.
“He would escape rehab and go on a drug bender and no one could find him,” she said.
Kardashian continued: “I was either looking for him in alleys, looking for him in motels. I remember needing to go to hotel rooms to clean up after him so housekeeping didn’t sell a story… I felt such a responsibility to cover this up, hold it together, and protect him.”