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Nevada - Former NBA and reality TV star Lamar Odom was hospitalised after he was found unconscious on Tuesday at a Nevada brothel, authorities said.
The Nye County Sheriff's Department was called at about 15:15 to Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada about 70 miles (113km) outside of Las Vegas for a report of an unresponsive man needing an ambulance, Sheriff Sharon A. Wehrly said in a statement.
The 35-year-old was stabilised and taken to Desert View Hospital in nearby Pahrump, the statement said. Officials then tried to have him airlifted to Las Vegas, but the 6-foot-10-inch Odom was too tall for the helicopter that was available and he was driven by ambulance to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
There was no further word on Odom's condition.
The emergency call came from Richard Hunter, media director for Dennis Hof, who owns the Love Ranch and other brothels in Nevada, the sheriff's statement said.
Hof, who had his own reality series, Cathouse, on HBO, said Odom had been staying at Hof's home that is attached to the brothel since Saturday.
Hof told the Times that Odom "wanted to get away from everybody, wanted to have fun."
Two women found Odom:
He said two women from the brothel found Odom unconscious in the afternoon after not seeing him since early in the morning.
He said when they turned him over, "terrible stuff came out" of his mouth or nose.
Hof said Odom had been taking herbal Viagra and had drunk part of a bottle of cognac since arriving, but had no knowledge of his use of any other drugs.
His hospitalization was first reported by TMZ.
Odom's history:
Odom, who won two NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009 and 2010, last played in the NBA in 2013, and saw recent reality TV fame through his four-year marriage to Khloe Kardashian.
Kardashian filed for divorce in 2013, citing irreconcilable differences.
Born Lamar Joseph Odom on 6 November, 1979, in Queens, New York, he was raised by his grandmother after his mother died of cancer when he was 12. His father was a drug addict.
In 2006, Odom's 6-month-old son Jayden died from SIDS while sleeping in his crib in New York.
He has a daughter, Destiny, and a son Lamar Jr., from a previous relationship.
