Vanessa Bryant
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Vanessa Cornejo Ubrieta Laine Bryant (born Vanessa Cornejo Ubrieta May 5, 1982) is the wife of NBA star Kobe Bryant.
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[edit] Biography
Vanessa was born in California to Mexican parents who divorced when Vanessa was just a baby, after which her father moved to Baja, Mexico.[1] Her mother 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 her. Vanessa later started working at the Westminister Mall in a clothing store.
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 1996, and Laine used his father's Huntington Beach address to get Vanessa into his alma mater, Marina High School. Vanessa wanted to attend Marina High School to be with her stepfather's nieces, because she was very close to them. She did not graduate from high school. [1]
[edit] Meeting Kobe Bryant
Vanessa met Kobe Bryant in November 1999, when she was 17, while she was working as a background dancer in the video G'd Up from the rap group Tha Eastsidaz.
On April 18, 2001, 22 year-old Kobe and 18 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. 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 damn prenup... that he loved her too much for one."[1]
[edit] Children
Vanessa gave birth to the couple's first daughter, Natalia Diamante Bryant, on Sunday January 19, 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 1, 2006 their second daughter, Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant was born.
[edit] Sexual assault allegations
On July 4, 2003, Kobe was charged with raping a 19-year-old hotel worker in Eagle, Colorado. Vanessa remained supportive of her husband and proclaimed his innocence, in spite of Kobe's defense that the incident in Colorado was consensual, thus meaning at the least he had committed adultery. Kobe bought Vanessa a $4.3 million 8 carat (1.6 g) purple diamond ring as a way to say he was sorry; later, he would also buy her the only converted automatic Lamborghini Murciélago for her. [2] Eventually the charges against Kobe were dropped.
