Vanessa Bryant has settled her lawsuit with her mother.
The 39-year-old mother to Natalia, 18, Bianka, 4, and 2-year-old Capri with late husband Kobe Bryant — was sued by Sofia Laine last year, who claimed she had worked as her daughter’s nanny for nearly 20 years and was owed $200,000. Even though Vanessa insisted her mom was trying to “extort a windfall” from her, the case has now been settled.
According to TMZ Sports, the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but the case is now officially over.
Laine had alleged she worked unpaid as a “longtime personal assistant and nanny” for her daughter and claimed her late son-in-law had “promised to take care of” her for the “rest of her life” but Vanessa “took each and every step” to cut her financial aid.
Vanessa hit back, insisting she and Kobe — who died in a helicopter crash in January 2020 alongside several others, including their 13-year-old daughter Gianna — had never employed her mother, but she “occasionally babysat” when her kids were younger, as many grandparents do.
Bryant said in a statement: “My mother is continuing to try and find ways to extort a financial windfall from our family. 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 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. 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.”
Bryant insisted she had continued to offer financial support to her mother, even after she “betrayed” her in an interview, but her mom insisted her offer “wasn’t good enough,” prompting the “disgraceful” lawsuit.
She fumed, “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. She is now trying to get more money than my husband and I ever spent to provide for her while he was alive. 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. My husband and I have never discouraged or kept her from providing for herself. This lawsuit is frivolous, disgraceful, and unimaginably hurtful. My husband never promised my mother anything, and he would be so disappointed in her behavior and lack of empathy,” Bryant said.
