Who is Vanessa Bryant?

• A federal jury ruled that Los Angeles County must pay Kobe Bryant’s widow $16 million.
• The former basketball star and his daughter died in a terrible plane crash on January 26, 2020.
• So who is Vanessa Bryant?

Who is Vanessa Bryant? More than two years after her life was changed forever by the loss of her husband, former basketball player Kobe Bryant, and her 13-year-old daughter Gianna, affectionately called Gigi, Vanessa Bryant sees a light at the end of the tunnel after a federal jury found that the County of Los Ángeles must pay her $16 million.

The widow of the former Los Angeles Lakers player suffered emotional damage after police officers and firefighters shared photos of the bodies of her husband and her daughter at the scene where a helicopter crashed on January 26, 2020. According to the AP, the figure is part of a total $31 million that Los Angeles was forced to pay for disseminating the images.

More about Vanessa Bryant

Vanessa Bryant was born on May 5, 1982 in Los Angeles, California, so she is currently 40 years old. Vanessa Urbieta Cornejo rose to fame after marrying basketball player Kobe Bryant, with whom she had four daughters: Gianna, Natalia, Bianka Bella and Capri. Following the tragic accident, her name became more well-known on social media.

She has more than 15 million followers on Instagram with whom she has shared more than 3,000 posts. Bryant often shares memories of her husband and daughter, whom they affectionately called Gigi. “Everything is for you. I love them. Justice for Kobe and Gigi,” she wrote in her most recent post.

Vanessa is not only known for her marriage to Kobe Bryant

Notably, Vanessa Bryant, along with her husband, created the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Foundation to award scholarships to minority college students around the world. She is also the head of the Mamba y Mambacita Sports Foundation, which supports child athletes who need it most, in addition to being the president and CEO of Granity Studios.

What few also know is that the couple were founding donors to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In May 2021, Vanessa launched a clothing line called Mambacita in honor of her daughter Gianna. The line is in partnership with a woman-owned brand, Dannijo, with all proceeds going to the Mambacita Sports Foundation.

How did she and Kobe meet?

At 17 years old, Vanessa Bryant and her friend Rowena went to a hip-hop concert at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater where they were discovered by a person who offered them jobs to appear as music video extras and backup dancers. She appeared in music videos for artists such as Krayzie Bone and Snoop Dogg.

A couple of months later, Vanessa met her future husband, Kobe Bryant, on the set of the music video for the song G’d Up. This high-profile relationship caused disruptions at her high school, leading her to complete her last year at home as an independent student. Her life would never be the same.

Kobe and Vanessa were close to celebrating 20 years of marriage

Six months after meeting, Kobe and Vanessa Bryant got engaged, uniting their lives on April 18, 2001. The ceremony, attended by approximately twelve people, was held at St. Edward Roman Catholic Church in Dana Point, California. The couple was about to celebrate 20 years of marriage when the former basketball player was tragically killed.

In January 2003, she became a mother for the first time to a beautiful girl whom she would call Natalia. Later, Gianna, Bianka Bella and Capri arrived. Few remember that the couple was about to divorce after Vanessa cited «irreconcilable differences» with her husband and father of her daughters. Almost a year later, the divorce was cancelled.