The first week of 2022 isn’t over, and Tristan Thompson is again making headlines for his infidelities. The basketball player confirmed he had fathered Maralee Nichols’ son after weeks of denying his involvement with the fitness model. ‘Today, paternity test results reveal that I fathered a child with Maralee Nichols. I take full responsibility for my actions. Now that paternity has been established, I look forward to amicably raising our son,” the 30-year old wrote. “I sincerely apologize to everyone I’ve hurt or disappointed throughout this ordeal, both privately and publicly.”

After Trsitan publicly apologized to Kardashian, Lamar Odom, who married the tv personality and businesswoman from 2009 to 2016, reacted to Tristan Thompson’s positive paternity test. Odom took to Facebook and commented on a post discussing Thompson’s apology. “I truly wish nothing but the best for her, and I’m hoping we can reconnect and talk one day as friends,” Odom said, adding, “she is a good person and deserves the world.”

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Odom seems to agree with Tristan, and both acknowledge that Khloé Kardashian deserves better. “Khloé, you don’t deserve this. You don’t deserve the heartache and humiliation I have caused you. You don’t deserve the way I have treated you over the years,” Tristan said on Instagram.

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In December 2021, Nichols released a statement to E! News revealing details on how she met Tristan and fact-checking her other information. “Over the past couple of weeks, many inaccurate and false stories have been circulated about me. I have not at any point released—nor have I directed anyone else to release—any information regarding Tristan Thompson or any litigation involving him. I have never spoken to any media outlet, nor have I leaked any information to anyone at any time. I am providing this statement because I feel I must defend my character,” she begins.

“I have seen fake stories, unflattering photos of me, people using photos that are not even me, stating an incorrect occupation and age,” Nichols continues. “There have been multiple fake Instagram posts claiming to be me, making false statements and attaching stock photos of a sonogram and a child (neither mine).”

“These are the facts: I have lived in California since 2019. I am not a personal trainer. I have not worked as a personal trainer for four years; I do fitness modeling. I was never a personal trainer for Tristan,” she states.

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According to Maralee, she met Thompson after attending a party at his home in 2020. “He told me he was single and co-parenting. I would never have gotten involved with Tristan if I thought he was in a relationship,” she assures. “I saw Tristan in March 2021 around his birthday. He told me he had wanted to see me,” she tells E! News. “I agreed to meet him in Houston at a private party on March 12.”

When they met in Houston, the model said that it “was one of many nights” they spent together. “Soon after his birthday weekend in Houston, Tristan invited me to visit him in Boston,“ Nichols said.

Maralee informed that she learned she was pregnant after meeting Tristan in Boston. According to the publication, she told Thompson about her pregnancy when they saw each other again in North Carolina.

According to court documents, Thompson stated that he only had intimate time with Nichols on his birthday. “The only time that I had sexual intercourse with [Maralee] in 2021 was in March 2021 in Houston, Texas. I specifically remember having sexual intercourse with [her] in March because it was my birthday. [She] and I attended a party together at a hotel in Houston. [She] had called me and wanted to be with me on my birthday,” he alleges.