The Sad Reason Vanessa Bryant Stopped Talking To Her Mom After Kobe’s Passing

If losing her husband Kobe Bryant and 13-year-old daughter Gianna wasn’t hard enough for Vanessa Bryant, 2020 also saw the mother of three take on a challenging feud with her mother Sofia Lane. Just months after the tragic helicopter accident took the lives of nine people in Calabasas, California,

 

 

 

 

Sofia did an exclusive tell-all interview claiming that her daughter had kicked her out of the family’s home. Vanessa is also alleged to have told her mother she must return the car that was said to have been purchased by Kobe and his wife — though it was unclear whether the vehicle belonged to the pair or whether it had been gifted to Sofia.

 

 

Either way, the latter claimed her daughter wanted the car back the day she told her mom to pack her belongings and leave. Vanessa has strongly denied the accusations, having released a statement on social media, questioning the audacity of her mother to discuss private family matters on television after the horrendous year she had already been faced with. In September 2020, Sofia sat down for an interview with the Spanish show El Gorda y La Flaca, where she insisted she had been thrown out of Vanessa’s home. She had been staying with the family since the tragedy involving Kobe and Gianna in January of that very same year. “She told me, ‘I need you to get out of this house.’ She also told me that she wanted her car and she wants it now,” Vanessa’s mom said while sobbing uncontrollably. Sofia’s comments were rather shocking to fans since it was just earlier in the year when sources told Us Weekly that she and her daughter had actually grown “closer” following Kobe’s death, and that Sofia had stepped up to help look after her grandchildren during such an unfortunate disaster.

 

 

“[Vanessa] is incredibly close to her mom and her mom has been her rock throughout the past few weeks,” the insider told the publication just months prior to Sofia’s explosive interview. “Her mom is always with her and the girls and she’s been keeping Vanessa strong and she’s the weight of her support system.” Vanessa, clearly heartbroken and devastated by the comments made by her mother, took it upon herself to write a statement in regards to what’s been said from Sofia’s mouth on national television. The 38-year-old did not hesitate to call her mother out on the supposed false allegations that had been made about her character, adding that Sofia had been financially supported by her and Kobe for two decades and was still receiving monthly payments. V took issue with the fact that her mom made it seem as if she had been cut off and left to fend on her own when that was never the case, to begin with. “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,” Vanessa said.

 

 

“She has removed all her diamond jewelry, emptied the apartment I provided, and put away the furniture to make it look like she doesn’t have my support. My husband and I have supported her financially for the past 20 years, and continue to do so, in addition to her monthly alimony.” And though sources claimed Vanessa and Sofia had gotten closer after Kobe and Gianna’s death, it was V who added that her mom had overstepped her boundaries and had shown little to no sympathy for her children. “Now I see what is most important to my mother and it’s more than painful. I hope that everything that is coming out about our personal relationship ends here,” she concluded. In December 2020, Sofia sued Vanesa, demanding $5 million for being “nanny” to her grandchildren, stressing that the job had supposedly prevented her from seeking other opportunities at the time when she was asked to help with Kobe and Vanessa’s children. Because of that, Sofia wanted “$96 per hour for supposedly working 12 hours a day for 18 years for watching her grandchildren,” V asserted.

Vanessa says she has tried time and time again to mend things with her mom in the past year when things were already beginning to turn rocky, but having a lawsuit filed her way over “unpaid earnings” for helping take care of her grandchildren was the icing on the cake for her. It’s unclear whether she’ll be able to find it in herself to forgive her mother after all is said and that, but it seems unlikely that Sofia will win her $5 million lawsuit given that she has very little evidence proving that she’s worked 12 hours a day for “18 years” raising Vanessa’s kids.