It seems Tristan spent the four months between finding out Maralee Nichols was pregnant and the surrogate’s embryo transfer encouraging Khloé to go ahead as he knew when his other baby was due to be born.

It’s fair to say that Khloé Kardashian and Tristan Thompson’s relationship has been tumultuous over the years.

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The pair began dating in 2016, but the relationship has been consistently dogged by infidelity. Tristan was accused of cheating on Khloé just days before she gave birth to their first child, True, in 2018. They gave things another shot, but Tristan was caught cheating again just months later with Kylie Jenner’s former best friend, Jordyn Woods.

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Since then, they’ve been pretty off and on. But after rekindling their romance during the COVID-19 lockdown, they decided to have another child together — this time via surrogate on account of Khloé’s increased risk of miscarriage.

Instagram: @khloekardashian

However, late last year, news broke that Tristan had cheated again — this time with personal trainer Maralee Nichols, who became pregnant on Tristan’s 30th birthday in March, and gave birth to their son in December 2021. Tristan denied the child was his until DNA tests proved otherwise.

Instagram: @maraleenichols

We saw the dramatic moment that Khloé discovered Tristan had fathered another child behind her back in the Season 1 finale of The Kardashians, when Kim informed her over the phone after the news leaked in legal documents.

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But what we didn’t know at the time was that Khloé and Tristan’s surrogacy journey had progressed so much that they were also expecting a baby together.

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News that Khloé and Tristan were expecting baby number two broke in July this year, with the pair welcoming a boy later that same month.

Instagram: @realtristan13

But now Season 2 of The Kardashians has returned to our screens, we’ve learned all of the details of the surrogacy journey and paternity scandal — including that Tristan was actively pressuring Khloé to go ahead with their baby plans while knowing full well that Maralee was pregnant.

Instagram: @khloekardashian

During the episode, Khloé revealed that Tristan had found out that Maralee was pregnant on July 2, 2021 — a whole four months before their surrogate underwent an embryo transfer around Thanksgiving on Nov. 25.

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But just days after the embryo transfer took place, Khloé was hit with the news on Dec. 3 that Tristan was having another child.

Instagram: @realtristan13

And Khloé went on to admit that Tristan had actually been “encouraging” her to go ahead with their surrogacy plans and the embryo transfer “by a certain date” — presumably because he knew when his other baby was due to be born.

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“All I know is I was being encouraged to do it by a certain date,” Khloé explained during one confessional. “In hindsight, he always knew when the other baby was being born — especially getting the paperwork that we saw, he found out July 2, so he did know.”

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And in another telling scene from the show, Kris, Kendall, Kim, and Kylie gathered to discuss the situation, with Kris and Kendall in agreement that Tristan had deliberately talked Khloé into going ahead with having a second baby in order to “trap” her.

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During the meeting, Kylie said, “I just don’t like the fact that Tristan knew that this was happening.” Kendall replied, “That’s what’s wild. Like, you were encouraging Khloé to go forward with this while you knew that this was also happening? It’s almost like he wanted to trap her.”

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Kris Jenner agreed: “Well, he wanted to hang onto her for sure, and thought that maybe if they did that she would marry him.”

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To make matters worse, despite there being much speculation that Tristan and Khloé had split for good in summer 2021, she made it clear in the episode that they were actually very much still together — and she’d intended to raise their family with “mom and dad” in the “same home.”

Instagram: @realtristan13

“I thought this was a real, healthy, loving, protective relationship,” Khloé said through tears during her confessional.

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Khloé went on to explain that she was terrified of the news of their second baby being made public, because of the vitriol she faces online — including being called an “idiot” and a “dumb bitch” — each time Tristan is caught out.

Instagram: @khloekardashian

She was also keen to highlight that she had no idea that Maralee was pregnant when she decided to go ahead with the embryo transfer.

Instagram: @khloekardashian

“We did an embryo transfer days before Thanksgiving,” she said. “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.”

Instagram: @khloekardashian

“Why would I have a baby with someone that’s having a baby with someone else?” she added. “I’m not that much of a sociopath. I’m a lunatic but not, like, that deranged.”

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Khloé and Tristan welcomed their son, whose name hasn’t yet been revealed, on July 28. And while Khloé decided against having Tristan there at the birth, she did allow him to come to the hospital to meet the baby afterward.

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The pair have since agreed that she will have sole legal and physical custody of the baby.