Khloé Kardashian's relationship with Tristan Thompson has been scandalous, to say the least, and despite having broken up a long time ago, their lives are still very much entangled. After all, they have two children together.
Tristan has two other kids with two other women, and his relationship with each of them is different. His distance from his second youngest, Theo, has caused controversy, but is he a good father to Khloé's children?
Tristan And Khloé's Complicated Relationship
While it's undeniable that there was a lot of love between Khloé Kardashian and Tristan Thompson, their relationship was stained by several scandals, most of them related to infidelity.
The pair started dating in late 2016 after Tristan broke up with his ex-girlfriend, Jordan Craig, who was at the time pregnant with Prince, Tristan's oldest child.
Rumors of cheating started back then, but Khloé shut them down almost immediately, stating that he did not leave anyone to be with her.
"I have said this before but as I have learned the truth isn't as exciting as a lie," she said back then. In 2018, they welcomed True Thompson, their first daughter, and at around that time, the problems started between them.
Proof of Tristan being unfaithful came out, and while they tried to make it work for a while, they eventually split up in 2019. They briefly got back together during the pandemic after quarantining together for the sake of their daughter, but in June 2021 they broke up again.
Shortly after that, fitness model Maralee Nichols announced that she was pregnant with the basketball player's child, and in December 2021, Theo was born.
After a paternity test, it was confirmed that he was the father.
In 2022, Khloé and Tristan announced that they were expecting another kid via surrogate. "We can confirm True will have a sibling who was conceived in November. Khloé is incredibly grateful to the extraordinary surrogate for such a beautiful blessing," a statement from Khloé's rep said.
"We'd like to ask for kindness and privacy so that Khloé can focus on her family. Khloé and Tristan are not back together and have not spoken since December outside of co-parenting matters. The baby was conceived via surrogate before it was revealed to Khloé and the public that Tristan was having a baby with someone else in December."
Their son was born in August 2022.
How Involved Is Tristan?
Currently, Tristan Thompson has four kids with three different women, and he seems to have different relationships with each of them.
During the time he was with Khloé, he seemed like a very hands-on dad with both their daughter True and his son Prince. Khloé was also involved in True's stepbrother's life and was delighted that the siblings could have a good relationship.
In late 2021, Tristan posted a picture of True and Prince and wrote a caption that read "Let me love you a little more, before you are not so little anymore #MyEverything." Khloé commented on the post "They are so beautiful and sweet!!!! So so blessed!!! What angels!"
Now that their situation is more complicated, with them being permanently separated and having another kid, things have changed slightly, and Khloé has primary custody of the kids. This doesn't mean Tristan is not involved in their children's lives, though.
"He wants to be present and spend time with the kids and of course Khloé is allowing him to be present in both of the kids' life," a source shared.
"He wants to be part of the baby's life, and she wants him to be. When he's there, he's a good loving dad. He's not there all the time though as Khloé primarily has custody."
Tristan's Relationship With His Son Theo
The co-parenting dynamic between Tristan Thompson and Khloé Kardashian is very different from the one between Maralee Nichols and him.
For starters, Tristan and Maralee had an extensive legal battle before they reached an agreement, during which he initially denied being the father. Eventually, he acknowledged the paternity and agreed to pay child support.
"Today, paternity test results reveal that I fathered a child with Maralee Nichols. I take full responsibility for my actions," he said on Instagram when the DNA results came back.
"Now that paternity has been established I look forward to amicably raising our son." He also used the opportunity to apologize to Khloé for everything he put her through.
However, despite saying he wanted a good relationship with Maralee and their child, he's reportedly not involved in raising Theo at all.
"Tristan is very absent from Theo’s life. He hasn’t met Theo nor has he initiated any meetings," a source revealed. "He doesn’t have any immediate plans to meet his son face to face."
According to Tristan's lawyer, he is fulfilling his obligations, so hopefully, he will soon step up and provide more than just financial support.
