Kobe Bryant and Vanessa Bryant met when the latter was still in high school in California. She would have to be home-schooled for the rest of her senior year due to the massive amount of publicity that surrounded their high-profile relationship.
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The two would actually meet on the set of a rap music video featuring Bryant. Many don’t remember that, like his Los Angeles Lakers teammate, Shaquille O’Neal, the 6’6 guard tried dabbling in the music industry.
While on set, he would run into Vanessa, one of the models for the music video. He would fall for her almost instantaneously, always staying on the lookout for where she was throughout the duration of the shoot.
Vanessa Bryant and Kobe Bryant let each other embrace their ‘goofier’ sides
Vanessa and Kobe would officially tie the know April 18th, 2001. It was rumored that Kobe’s parents did not approve of their marriage due to the fact that they were still so young. Vanessa being mixed race might’ve also played a factor in this, leading to neither Joe ‘Jellybean’ or Pam attending the wedding.
This however, didn’t seem to be a point concern in the slightest for the married couple. The 5x Lakers champ has gushed about his wife on multiple occasions, once even admitting that she lets him embrace his sillier side of himself.
“We literally did everything together. I thought I was a big dork because I loved Disneyland. I loved the Disney movies and things like that, but I never really had a chance to go to the park much. She was a big Disney fan too and we used to hang out as Disneyland, we used to go to Magic Mountain, she became my best friend.”
Kobe Bryant bought his wife a $4 million ring
The two did experience quite the hiccup along the way, with Kobe Bryant being accused of s*xual assault in Colorado in 2003. Vanessa and the NBA star never went down the route of a divorce however.
Instead, it’s been speculated that he made it up to her by buying her a diamond ring worth an exorbitant $4 million.
