Lamar Odom Reveals He’s Had Sex with Over 2,000 Women: 'I Had a Problem'

Lamar Odom is opening up for the first time about a crippling sex and drug addiction that nearly cost him his life.

In his new memoir, Darkness to Light — exclusively excerpted in PEOPLE — the NBA champion writes, “I have been obsessed with sex for as long as I can remember.”

“I am a sex addict,” writes Odom, who was married to Khloé Kardashian for four years before they split in 2013.

• For more from Lamar Odom, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

The 39-year-old reveals that he has had sex with more than 2,000 women. “There were too many strippers to count,” he writes. “It wasn’t a big deal, but often I would pay them. I never thought less of them.”

Odom also reveals that he cheated on Kardashian throughout their marriage; she eventually discovered the infidelities.

“I was shocked and embarrassed,” he tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. “I wanted to take it back, but you can’t. [I] wanted to hide it. But that sick sin was hard for me to hide … I had a problem.”

Kardashian’s rep did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

RELATED: Khloé Kardashian & Lamar Odom: A Timeline of Their Relationship
 

Continues Odom: “[I] ran out of porn to watch! That’s how you know when you are going a little overboard.”

Odom’s addiction to sex was compounded by his addiction to drugs.

“Sex was a trigger for me to do drugs,” he tells PEOPLE. “Because you double up on [that] good feeling.”
 

In 2015, Odom’s addictions led him to the Love Ranch brothel in Las Vegas, where he overdosed and nearly died.

“That was the wake-up call,” says Odom. “Like, this can’t happen again.”

RELATED: ‘I Was Doing Coke Every Day’: Lamar Odom Opens Up About Addiction After Overdose Almost Cost Him His Life
 

Now Odom is drug-free, but admits that he’s still working through his demons.

“I’m still an addict,” he writes in his book. “I still struggle … [But] I will not go into the darkness. Ever again.”

Darkness to Light is out May 28.