Vanessa Bryant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vanessa Cornejo Ubrieta Laine Bryant (born Vanessa Cornejo Ubrieta May 5, 1982) is the wife of NBA star Kobe Bryant.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Vanessa was born in Huntington Beach, California to Sofia Laine, and had a sister, Sophie, who is ten years older. Sophie and Vanessa's parents divorced when Vanessa was just a baby, after which her father had moved to Baja, Mexico.<ref name="hollywood-vanessa02">Hubler, Shawn (2005-02-14). "Kobe Bryant's Wife: Vanessa Laine Bryant". Hollywood.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-27.</ref> Sofia raised her daughters alone until 1990, when she married Stephen Laine. In high school Vanessa legally changed her family name to Laine even though Stephen never adopted Vanessa. For the most part, Vanessa was raised by her step-grandfather, Robert Laine.
The Laines lived in Anaheim and Temecula before moving to Garden Grove, where they bought a four-bedroom house. Vanessa graduated from St. Boniface parochial school in 1995, and used Laine's father's Huntington Beach address to get Vanessa into his alma mater, Marina High School. Vanessa wanted to attend Marina High to be with Stephen Laine's nieces, because she was very close to them.<ref name="hollywood-vanessa02" />
[edit] Meeting Kobe
17 year old Vanessa met 21 year old Kobe in November 1999 while she was working as a background dancer on the Tha Eastsidaz video G'd Up.<ref name="eonline">"'E! True Hollywood Story' - Kobe Bryant". Retrieved from the Internet Archive on 2006-11-27.</ref> Kobe was in the building working on his album, which was never released.
The two began dating and soon the relationship started getting attention from the media. The media attention proved too much for the school and they banned Kobe from the campus, so Kobe let Vanessa drive the Mercedes herself.[citation needed] Evenutually Vanessa completed high school in 2000 through independent study due to the media.<ref name="hollywood-vanessa02" /> Kobe was also banned from attending Vanessa's prom and her graduation. Vanessa did go to her graduation but not her prom.
[edit] Engagement And Wedding
Kobe asked Vanessa to marry him in May 2000, after just 6 months of dating.<ref name="eonline" /> Vanessa's engagement ring was 7 carats and cost $100,000.<ref name="hollywood-vanessa">"Vanessa Laine Bryant". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 2006-11-27.</ref>
On April 18th, 2001, 23 year old Kobe and 19 year old Vanessa were married at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in Dana Point, California. There were only about 12 guests at the wedding. Neither Kobe's parents, nor his two sisters, nor his longtime adviser and agent Arn Tellem, nor Kobe's teammates attended.<ref name="eonline" /> This disagreement resulted in an estrangement period of over two years, during which Kobe Bryant did not have any contact with his parents.
According to Vanessa's cousin Laila Laine, there was no prenuptial agreement: "She just came home one day and said something to the effect that Kobe didn't want a prenup... that he loved her too much for one."<ref name="hollywood-vanessa02" />
After the wedding the couple drove away in Kobe's Ferrari. They moved into a $4.1 million dollar mansion in Newport Beach, California.
[edit] Children
Vanessa gave birth to the couple's first daughter, Natalia Diamante Bryant, on Sunday January 19th, 2003. After Natalia was born, Kobe and his parents reconciled. In April 2005, Vanessa suffered a miscarriage due to an ectopic pregnancy. On Monday May 1st, 2006 their second daughter, Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant was born.
[edit] Sexual assault allegations
On 2003-07-04, Kobe was charged with raping a 19-year-old hotel worker in Eagle, Colorado. Vanessa remained supportive of her husband and proclaimed his innocence. Kobe bought Vanessa a $4 million 8 carat purple diamond ring as a way to say he was sorry.<ref name="hollywood-vanessamarry">Harris, Beth (2003-08-05). "Bryant's marriage has faced constant conflict". Associated Press. Retrieved 2006-11-27.</ref> Eventually the charges against Kobe were dropped.
[edit] Currently
Kobe and Vanessa moved from the Los Angeles community of Pacific Palisades to the gated Newport Coast community of Ocean Ridge in Orange County. By coincidence, their new home was previously owned by Karl Malone's agent Dwight Manley. A state-of-the-art security system was installed, as well as a decked out home theater. They decorated their home with stuff of their childhood: Kobe's Star Wars memorabilia and Vanessa's Disneyana. In the backyard they put a replica of the cottage from the Harry Potter movies.<ref name="hollywood-vanessa02" />
[edit] Trivia
- Vanessa Bryant is the only person in the world to own an automatic only Lamborghini Murcielago. For her 19th birthday (May 5 '01) Kobe gave her the car as a gift. According to car enthusiast magazine Dub, upon realizing Vanessa could not drive a manual transmission, Kobe had the car converted to an automatic by having a special adapter for the transmission installed. The estimated cost of the car after conversion and customization was $400,000.
- In November 2004, Vanessa accused Kobe's ex-teammate Karl Malone of flirting and making passes at her. Kobe even confronted him but Malone denied the accusations.
- In May 2005, Kobe surprised Vanessa with a $50,000 recommitment ceremony in Laguna Beach, California.
