Vanessa Bryant’s Mother Betrays Her Daughter’s Trust Again By Speaking To Tabloid Magazines

Updated December 21, 2020.

This year, Vanessa Bryant has (like all of us) had to deal with the stress and uncertainty of a pandemic, racial crisis and injustice, and the threats of unstable political leadership. She has also had to deal with the almighty devastation of losing her husband and daughter on the same day. You think this would be enough to ensure that she receives only sympathy, support, and light during this time but not so.

Recently, the wife of the late basketball great Kobe Bryant is dealing with negative claims taken to the press by her own mother. And now a lawsuit.

Vanessa Bryant says her mother is trying to “extort a financial windfall” from her family after her husband’s untimely death.

On Tuesday in California, Bryant’s mother Sofia Laine, 68, filed a lawsuit against her daughter Vanessa for financial support. According to court documents Laine claims that she worked unpaid as a “longtime personal assistant and nanny” for the family. In the lawsuit Laine claims that Kobe Bryant had “promised to take care of” his mother-in-law “for the rest of her life” before his death on Jan. 26 of this year.

“Unfortunately, Kobe Bryant’s promises did not see the light of day as he is now deceased, and Vanessa Bryant took each and every step she could to void and cancel all of Kobe Bryant’s promises made to [Laine]. Vanessa Bryant did not intend to honor any of the Bryants’ representations, agreements and promises at any stage,” the documents state according to People.

Vanessa claims her mother is “continuing to try and find ways to extort a financial windfall from our family.”

“I have supported her for nearly 20 years, and she was never my or Kobe’s personal assistant, nor was she a nanny,” Vanessa continued to explain in a statement given to People. “I have always been a stay-at-home mother and my husband and I were our daughters’ full-time caregivers.”

Last Friday, on December 18, Laine responded to her daughter’s claims in a lengthy to Us magazine, and said that she found “airing our family grievances in the public” to be “hurtful. She also claimed that she “did not have a choice.”

“All I wanted is what I worked for. Vanessa, despite everything that I have been promised and done for her and the family, has attempted to sever all ties and renege on all obligations and agreements,” Laine wrote to US Magazine. “Why would she do this to her own mother? I am so disappointed, hurt, and wronged to the point that I had no choice but to file a lawsuit. I am nearly 70 years old, my health is deteriorating, and my own daughter is doing this to me?”

In a September interview with Univision, Bryant’s mother Sofia Laine claimed her daughter had kicked her out of her home.

Appearing on “El Gordo y La Flaca,” Laine claimed that her 38-year-old daughter had forced her out of a family home and made her return the car she used.

In a statement to People, Bryant defended herself saying “My husband and daughter passed away unexpectedly, and yet my mom has the audacity to do an interview on TV talking negatively about me while shedding tears about a car and home that wasn’t in her name.”

“She has removed all her diamond jewelry, emptied her apartment that I provide, and put the furniture in storage to appear as though she is without support,” Bryant went onto claim. “My husband and I have financially supported her over the past 20 years, and I continue to do so, in addition to her monthly alimony.”

Bryant went onto add that “contrary to previous reports, she has not been physically present or emotionally supportive for my daughters and me after my husband and daughter passed away. Going forward, I see what is most important to my mom and it is beyond hurtful. I hope this public airing of our personal relations will stop here.”

Bryant lost her husband, the late NBA star, and the couple’s second-oldest daughter Gianna in a tragic helicopter crash in January.

The crash claimed the lives of seven other people including Payton Chester, 13, Sarah Chester, 46, Alyssa Altobelli, 14,Keri Altobelli, 46, John Altobelli, 56, Christina Mauser, 38, and the helicopter’s pilot Ara Zobayan, 50.