Since the death of NBA legend, Kobe Bryant, there has been a major strain in the relationship between his widow, Vanessa, and her mother, Sofia Laine.
The deceased’s widow recently fired back at her mother after the older woman filed a lawsuit against her.
68-year-old Sofia sued her daughter to the tune of $5M, claiming that the late basketballer promised to take care of her for the rest of her life but after he died in the helicopter crash in January, Vanessa failed to honor his vow.
In the lawsuit, she claims that she was never paid by Vanessa and her late husband for her services as a “personal assistant and nanny to their four children.”
She also claims Vanessa ordered her to move out of the home Kobe had allowed her to live in while he was alive.
However, Vanessa responding to the ‘hurtful’ lawsuit said her mother’s intent is to “extort a financial windfall from our family”, stating that her mother’s claims are false.
She added: “I have supported her for nearly 20 years, and was never my or Kobe’s personal assistant, nor was she a nanny.
“I have always been a stay at home mother and my husband and I were my daughter’s full-time care givers.”
Vanessa continues, “She now wants to back charge me $96 per hour for supposedly working 12 hours a day for 18 years for watching her grandchildren. In reality, she only occasionally babysat my older girls when they were toddlers.”
“As of ten years ago, our kids were full time students and athletes and I didn’t have another child until 2016.”
Speaking further in a statement released on her Instagram Stories, the 38-year-old wrote,
“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.
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. Because I did not give in to her hurtful threats and monetary requests, she has spiraled out of control and is making false and absurd claims.”
Read her full statement below,
