Amazingly, Kobe and Vanessa Bryant (Vanessa Cornejo Urbieta Laine) have been married for over 8 years. I didn’t know very much about their relationship, so I pulled info from a few places. There are pictures at the bottom for those of you who aren’t fans of reading. Here’s the background via Celebrity Friend:
In November 1999, 21 year old Bryant met 17 year old Vanessa Laine while she was working as a background dancer on the Tha Eastsidaz music video “G’d Up”. Bryant was in the building working on his debut musical album, which was never released. The two began dating and became engaged just six months later in May 2000, while Laine was still a senior at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California. To avoid media scrutiny, she finished high school through independent study. According to Vanessa’s cousin Laila Laine, there was no prenuptial agreement. Vanessa said Bryant “loved her too much for one”.
So he doesn’t have a prenup. Yikes. Due to a disagreement over his marriage to Laine, Kobe’s parents didn’t speak to him for over two years. I’m not going to even go into the whole rape thing. I think we’ve heard enough about that. However, I do think it’s important to remind people that during that fiasco he publicized the fact that Shaq cheated on his wife. Here’s the rundown from TMZ:
The line most likely references a comment Kobe made during his infamous 2003 rape case, when he told Colorado police that he “Should have done what Shaq does … Shaq would pay his women not to say anything.” The two became famously bitter rivals after the incident.
After the incident, Kobe bought his wife a gigantic diamond ring. In 2007, there were rumors that their marriage was on the rocks. The Bryants have run into even more legal trouble this year. Their housekeeper has filed a law suit. Here’s the info via Wikipedia:
In March 2009, Vanessa made headlines when she and her husband were accused of harassing their housekeeper Maria Jimenez, a Peruvian immigrant who is a U.S. citizen, says she worked as a full-time housekeeper at the Bryant’s Newport Coast home from September 2007 to March 22, 2008, and was making $50,000 a year, according to the wrongful termination lawsuit filed Friday. The Bryants’ lawyer, Mark D. Campbell, issued a statement denying Jimenez’s account. “Ms. Jimenez’s outrageous allegations of improper conduct are totally unfounded and patently false,’’ Campbell said. “The Bryants intend to vigorously defend against these untruthful allegations and are confident that the baseless nature of the allegations will be proven.” Jimenez also alleges Vanessa Bryant screamed at her after one of the Bryants’ children came to Jimenez for comfort, the lawsuit says. Vanessa Bryant yelled, “I don’t want you to touch my baby. I hired you for housekeeping, not babysitting,” according to the claim.
The thing that I find most interesting about the Kobe/Vanessa situation is that it’s exactly the opposite of Britney/K-Fed. In this case, Kobe is the superstar in his prime while she’s the former backup dancer turned housewife. The fact that there’s no prenup makes it even worse. A strapping young man, like myself, could sweep Mrs. Bryant off of her feet and I could stand in line to receive 1/4 of Kobe Bryant’s fortune (half of half, get it?). I just have to convince her to leave him and marry me. Enough about my fantasies, here are the pictures you’ve waited nearly 600 words to see:
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