Khloé Kardashian had been dating Tristan on and off since 2016 at that point, and while their relationship had been dogged with numerous cheating scandals throughout the years, things appeared to be better than ever between them.
In fact, earlier in the season Tristan had been filmed seriously talking about marrying Khloé, and she’d admitted that this was their “end goal” as she also hoped to expand their family.
The former couple welcomed their daughter, True, in 2018, and Khloé has always been open about the fact that she may need to use a surrogate for any future children because she faces a “high risk of miscarrying.”
In April 2020, the star froze embryos with Tristan’s sperm after a doctor told her that this would be more beneficial than freezing her eggs on their own. Khloé and Tristan weren’t together at the time, but they later rekindled their romance.
Then in December 2021, it was revealed that Tristan was secretly expecting a baby with Maralee Nichols when court documents leaked to the press.
The legal filing saw Tristan concede that he’d “sporadically” had sex with the personal trainer behind Khloé’s back for months before his birthday, having originally claimed that he’d only slept with her twice.
Their baby is believed to have been conceived on March 13, when Tristan left a lavish birthday party that Khloé had thrown for him to receive a “birthday surprise” from Maralee in Texas.
Maralee also shared alleged messages from Tristan where he warned her that he’d have “zero involvement” with their child, and also appeared to offer her $75,000 to have an abortion. Tristan denied that the messages were from him at the time.
Despite having to deal with Maralee’s pregnancy and the subsequent court case, Tristan appeared to have no intention of telling Khloé about either and believed that his legal declaration would not be made public.
As a result, Khloé and her family learned about it all “with the rest of the world,” which Khloé later called “the most offensive part.”
And her sister Kim Kardashian’s raw reaction to the scandal was even caught on camera after their family reality show’s crew arrived at her house to film something else on the same morning that the news broke online.
In tense scenes, Kim painstakingly tried to get a hold of Khloé, who wasn’t picking up her phone. She was visibly panicked as she read Tristan’s legal declaration to Kourtney Kardashian and Kylie Jenner.
During the conversation, she expressed her sadness for her younger sister that Maralee was having a boy, with the knowledge that Khloé longed for a son.
“The whole thing that’s so sad is Khloé wanted a boy, and this girl is having a boy,” Kim said.
When she finally did get a hold of Khloé, Kim referenced her sister’s surrogacy plans as she told her over the phone: “If this isn’t the biggest sign for you to not have another baby with this human being…” to which Khloé meekly replied, “I just would like the truth.”
Kim then reiterated: “If this isn’t the most clear situation, I don’t know what is,” while Khloé could be heard sobbing inconsolably.
Unbeknownst to Kim at the time, it was too late and Khloé and Tristan’s surrogate was most likely already pregnant with their second baby.
The news was not made public until July, just weeks before their son was born, but Season 2 of The Kardashians premiered with previously-unseen footage of the moment that tearful Khloé told Kim that baby number two was probably on the way.
While it happened during the initial conversation about Tristan’s scandal that aired on the show, this moment was edited out of the Season 1 finale after Kim took Khloé off speaker so that the crew wouldn’t hear.
The new season of The Kardashians premiered on Thursday, and was a special episode dedicated to Khloé’s surrogacy journey amid Tristan’s scandal.
Speaking in a confessional, Khloé fought back tears as she began: “That day when you guys were shooting with Kim about Tristan, when you guys found out that Tristan was having a baby with somebody else, there was just something I wasn’t ready to talk about.”
“I am having another baby,” Khloé went on. “And obviously it’s just really private and I just don’t want this to get out right now because I wanted to protect my mental wellbeing as well as my surrogate’s.”
Khloé then reflected on the moment that she broke the news to Kim as the archived footage played out. “There was a minute, from what I could see from watching the finale, I think (Kim) says if this is not a sign that you shouldn’t have another baby with him, I don’t know what is,” Khloé recalled.
“But what you didn’t see was, I think I either said ‘I need to tell you something’ or ‘take me off speaker,’” she explained.
In the previously unaired clip, Khloé can be heard saying on the other end of the phone: “I have a little problem,” and Kim warned: “Well, I’m filming right now, literally. We were filming a whole thing this morning and this is not it.”
“Well, I need to talk to you,” Khloé replied as Kim took her off speaker.
“And I told her, I said: ‘We did an embryo transfer a couple of days ago,’” Khloé said in the confessional while video footage of shocked Kim putting her hand over her mouth and saying “oh my god” as she reacted to the news played.
Tristan’s paternity scandal was exposed on Dec. 3, 2021, and in this episode of the show Khloé was keen to share exactly how soon after their embryo transfer that was.
“We did an embryo transfer days before Thanksgiving,” Khloé explained, with Thanksgiving on Nov. 25. “I found out about Tristan’s situation the first week of December and it’s just so close, I wouldn’t want anyone to think I did this after the fact.”
“Why would I have a baby with someone that’s having a baby with someone else?” Khloé added. “I’m not that much of a sociopath. I’m a lunatic but not, like, that deranged.”
Khloé also suggested that Tristan was encouraging her to go forward with the surrogacy “by a certain date,” and her sister, Kendall Jenner, said that this was a sign that he wanted to “trap” her.
Khloé and Tristan’s son was born on July 28, and intimate footage from the hospital room was also included in this episode of the show.
While Tristan was not present at the birth, he did visit the baby and Khloé in hospital and sources previously revealed that they plan to coparent peacefully despite no longer being together.
Khloé is yet to reveal what they have called the little boy, but she said that she wanted to choose a name that starts with “T.”
Meanwhile, Tristan’s son with Maralee, Theo, was born in December, but Maralee claimed earlier this year that he’d not yet met his baby.