The legal battle between Vanessa Bryant and her mother, Sofia Laine, is getting messy. Vanessa accused Sofia of making “false and absurd” claims about her in a lawsuit, which was filed on Dec. 16. Now, Sofia is clapping back with some harsh words about her daughter. To start her statement, Sofia insisted that she never intended to “air [her] family’s grievances in public.” She claimed that she hoped the lawsuit would play out in the courts, and that it was “Vanessa’s own doing” that things went public.
“All I wanted is what I worked for,” Sofia said in her statement. “Vanessa, despite everything that I have been promised and done for her and the family, has attempted to sever all ties and renege on all obligations and agreements. Why would she do this to her own mother? 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?”
She added that she was “disappointed” and “heartbroken” by how things were playing out. “It is unfortunate that Vanessa is making such false statements, especially in the public,” Sofia added. “I understand she is trying to preserve her reputation, but it does not excuse her behavior. Vanessa knows very well that I was the family nanny for almost two decades. She even drafted and enforced an extremely strict schedule for the round-the-clock care of my grandchildren. It is simply ridiculous that she would deny this.”
“My mother is continuing to try and find ways to extort a financial windfall from our family. I have supported her for nearly twenty 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 care givers. 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. She was a grandmother who was supported by me and her son-in-law at my request. 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 ten 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. Contrary to what she’s saying, I haven’t left my children’s side since the accident except to visit the cemetery to make arrangements.
Earlier this year, I was looking for a new home for her and, a week later, she went on television and gave an interview disparaging our family and making false accusations while living rent-free in a gated apartment complex in Newport Coast. Even after that betrayal, I was willing to provide my mother with monthly support for the rest of her life and that wasn’t good enough. 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. 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.”