Khloe Kardashian ‘chose’ to be primary caretaker of ex Tristan’s brother after his mother passed away

Khloe Kardashian stole the hearts of her followers when she posted a selfie with Amari — Tristan Thompson’s younger brother — backstage at his high school recital back in May. Now, she’s finally addressed questions about why she stayed in his life.

Khloe was recently doing a mailbag episode on her podcast Khloe in Wonderland, where she answered her fans’ questions. Inevitably, the question came up about why she stepped in to help Amari, despite her relationship with Thompson having the public, acrimonious end that it did. Khloe went into long detail, saying that the basketball player wasn’t even truly a part of the equation when she made the decision.

The Keeping Up with The Kardashians star explained that the two first got together about 10 years ago, when Amari was around 8 years old. Amari has LSG (Lennox-Gastaut syndrome) and is disabled. His condition means that sometimes he has to endure multiple epileptic attacks on the same day, so he needs intense care and round-the-clock medical assistance. When Khloe first met Amari, he was under the sole care of his mother, Andrea. But Andrea has since passed away from a sudden heart attack.

Khloe explained that throughout her tumultuous relationship with Tristan, her relationship with his mother was actually pretty strong. “When I met them — Andrea, Tristan’s mom and I — we became such good friends,” the reality TV star continued. “I would help her with Amari medically. She would have questions. She would need connections to certain doctors, and I would help with that. So I was very much involved in all of his medical appointments when Andrea was here.”

Amari always meant so much to Andrea, and now, in her absence, the responsibility passed down to Thompson. But due to his very demanding NBA schedule that requires him to be on the road for the majority of the week, the only option for him would be to bring Amari along in his travels. Khloe decided to step in and take care of him because she didn’t think such a strenuous schedule would be in Amari’s best interest.

Furthermore, Khloe saw all the benefits living with Amari would have on her and Thompson’s two shared children. She said, “I think it’s so important for my kids, my nieces and nephews, to be exposed to all different types of people in the world. I think it teaches everyone compassion, understanding. It opens up their minds to seeing, wow, Amari is disabled, sure, but he’s also just like us at the same time.”

For all the criticism the Kardashians get — some rightful, some not so much — one thing everyone can agree on is that they have very strong family values. They believe in never leaving any of their kin behind, even when it’s not the most convenient thing in the world. And ultimately, that’s their appeal to most people around the world. Everyone can find that admirable. And then the influencing follows. And then arguments about Italian weddings follow. Family always comes first.

True charity, as they say, begins at home.