Sofia Laine Responds To Her Daughter, Vanessa Bryant, After New Lawsuit
This year has been especially difficult for many people, but very few understand the depths of emotional pain and grief that Vanessa Bryant had to absorb, which had nothing to do with the worldwide pandemic. Not only did she experience the sudden deaths of her husband, Kobe Bryant, the L.A. Laker legend, and their daughter, Gianna, 13, but now she has to contend with another personal family issue being played out in front of the public.
Court documents recently confirmed that Bryant's mother Sofia Laine was suing her for financial support, claiming that she had worked without pay as a “longtime personal assistant and nanny” for the family and her grandchildren, according to The Los Angeles Times.
“In reality, she only occasionally babysat my older girls when they were toddlers,” Bryant said in a statement released immediately after the documents went public. “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."
TMZ is now reporting that Laine has responded to Bryant’s statement to further address the state of their current relationship.
“I would like to state that I do not enjoy airing our family grievances in the public,” Laine started. “Although I filed a lawsuit, I did not make any public comments and was hoping for the court process to run its course without the publicity, as hurtful as it is. I did not want this and do not want this.”
Laine claims that all that she is asking for is what she has worked for and what she has been promised. She also alleges that her daughter “has attempted to sever all ties and renege on all obligations and agreements.”
"Why would she do this to her own mother?” she continued. “I am so disappointed, hurt, and wronged to the point that I had no choice but to file a lawsuit… I am nearly 70 years old, my health is deteriorating, and my own daughter is doing this to me?"
The Los Angeles Times reports that Vanessa Bryant explained that she and her husband had financially supported her mother and allowed her to live in one of their homes near their Newport Coast residence for free.
“She now wants to back charge me $96 per hour for supposedly working 12 hours a day for 18 years for watching her grandchildren,” Bryant states.
Bryant inherited control of an estate valued at about $600 million after her husband’s death, The Times notes.
