Vanessa Bryant is addressing her mother’s shameful lawsuit against her.
The mother-in-law of the late Kobe Bryant recently sued his widow for allegedly kicking her out of their house and taking back the car they gifted her. In September, the month the lawsuit was filed, Vanessa’s mother, Sofia Laine, was wiping back tears in an interview with Univision TV personality Dave Valdez as she detailed the allegations that she was banished from the home and her vehicle seized. Now Vanessa Bryant has finally responded formally in an exclusive statement she issued through Valadez in Spanish.
“My mother is continuing to try and find ways to extort a financial windfall from our family. I have supported her for nearly twenty years, and she was never my or Kobe’s personal assistant, nor was she a nanny,” the translated statement reads. “I have always been a stay-at-home mother and my husband and I were our daughter’s full-time caregivers. For nearly two decades, we arranged for my mother to live in our nearby properties, at no cost to her because she had claimed that she didn’t have any money to buy her own home after her divorce.”
Laine is reportedly asking for $96 an hour to be compensated to her for staying with her grandkids. However, Bryant says her claims are “obviously false,” and while her mother is asking for retroactive remuneration for “working 12 hours a day for 18 years for watching her grandchildren,” she only babysat occasionally “just like most grandparents do.”
She continued, “My husband and I felt it was best for her not to live in our home. She watched our girls from time to time, just like most grandparents do. She did not take care of business issues or expenses. She was a grandmother who was supported by me and her son-in-law at my request.”
Vanessa also mentioned that she was trying to find her mother a new house a few months ago when the interview aired where she disgraced their grieving family. “Earlier this year, I was looking for a new home for her and, a week later, she went on television and gave an interview disparaging our family and making false accusations while living rent-free in a gated apartment complex in Newport Coast,” said Bryant.
“Even after that betrayal, I was willing to provide my mother with monthly support for the rest of her life and that wasn’t good enough. She, instead, contacted me through intermediaries (contrary to what she claims, my phone number hasn’t changed) and demanded $5 million, a house and a Mercedes SUV,” she added.
The widow and mother of 4 – may Gianna’s soul rest in peace – ended the lengthy statement with, “She has no regard for how this is affecting my children and me. She wants to live off of my daughters and me for the rest of her life while continuing to collect monthly alimony from her ex-husband since 2004.”
Vanessa reportedly finds her mother’s requests “unimaginably hurtful” and calls them frivolous and disgraceful. She adds that Kobe would be “so disappointed in her behavior and lack of empathy.” Do you think Sofia Laine will drop the suit?
