Vanessa Bryant has accused her mother of extortion after allegedly demanding $5 million in financial support in a lawsuit.
Bryant’s mother, Sofia Laine, filed court documents in California, alleging that she worked as a “longtime personal assistant and nanny” for Kobe Bryant’s family, and was never paid for it.
Laine also claims that prior to Kobe’s death earlier this year, he promised to take care of her “for the rest of her life.”
“Unfortunately, Kobe Bryant’s promises did not see the light of day as he is now deceased, and Vanessa Bryant took each and every step she could to void and cancel all of Kobe Bryant’s promises made to [Laine].
“Vanessa Bryant did not intend to honor any of the Bryants’ representations, agreements, and promises at any stage.” The court documents claim.
Reacting to the lawsuit, Vanessa claims her mother is “continuing to try and find ways to extort a financial windfall from our family.”
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Vanessa Bryant told People magazine “I have supported her for nearly 20 years, and she 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 our daughters’ 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,” Bryant 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,” Bryant claimed.
“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 10 years ago, our kids were full-time students and athletes and I didn’t have another child until 2016. Her claims are obviously false but I still tried, repeatedly, to work things out with my mother.”