Khloe Kardashian: We need to talk about Lamar -- but not really

What a difference a year makes.

Khloe Kardashian and husband Lamar Odom at this time last year were promoting their new holiday fragrance, “Unbreakable Joy.”

“Our goal was to create a scent that embodies that wonderful feeling of pure love, happiness and joy that this time of year is all about,” Kasdashian announced on her website.

But following Sunday’s season finale of E!’s “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” one lesson is clear: So-called “Unbreakable Joy” is indeed breakable.

During the episode, Kardashian and other family members mentioned Odom, who in the last several months has had numerous problems, including an arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence, televised run-ins with photographers, reports of a split with his wife following allegations of substance abuse and infidelity, and unemployment after being let go by the Los Angeles Clippers.

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But because the upbeat reality show is devoted to showing the Kardashian family in a positive light, serious issues such as depression or the substance abuse and its impact on loved ones really has no place.

In the season finale, producers of the show walked the tightrope, having the family address the “elephant in the room” without really talking about it. No specific details on his difficulties were discussed about than allusions to “bad energy.”

Instead, Kardashian mainly positioned herself as a victim of Odom’s woes.

“As many times as I’ve, like, protected Lamar or dodged a bullet for him, lately everything is getting more then what I can protect or control,” she said at one point.

She said “a lot has been going on the past couple of years”--apparently situations that don’t involve the selling of fragrances.

“Sometimes things are bigger then yourself, and I don’t have a plan,” she said. “I don’t know what the next step is.”

Most significantly, Kardashian presented herself as someone who could conceivably abandon a loved one if it put a crimp on her happiness.

“If someone, God forbids, gets their legs cut off or gets breast cancer, do you, like, leave someone because they’re slowing down your life?” she said to brother Rob.

Her comment illustrates what is truly “unbreakable” in the Kardashian universe. Sorry, Lamar.

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