Vanessa Bryant is disputing her mother’s claim that she was “abandoned” by her daughter after Kobe Bryant’s death.
Vanessa accused her mom, Sofia Laine, of exaggerating and called the situation “painful” in a statement released after Laine did an interview with the Univision program El Gordo Y La Flaca, that aired on Monday, Sept. 21.
During the interview, which was in Spanish, Laine told correspondent David Valadez that Vanessa decided to sell the house where she was living. She alleged Vanessa told her she had to leave, and demanded that her mom return the car she was using.
“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,” Laine said through tears.
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Valadez’s report included a copy of a property record, which showed the three bedroom house in Irvine, California, where Laine had been living, was purchased for $1.7 million on Dec. 27, 2013. A woman named Erika Williams was listed as the buyer. Valadez described Williams as a Bryant family secretary.
Univision said Williams did not respond to a request for comment, however, Vanessa Bryant did.
“My husband and daughter passed away unexpectedly, and yet my mother had the audacity to do a television interview speaking negatively of me while shedding tears for a car and a house that were not in her name,” Vanessa said in her statement to the network.
She also suggested that her mother was trying to get sympathy without telling the entire story.
“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,” the statement continued.
Vanessa then addressed media reports from earlier this year that said she had been leaning on her mother for support after Kobe, their 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26.
“Contrary to previous reports, she has not been physically present or emotionally supportive of my daughters and me after my husband and daughter passed away. 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,” Vanessa said.
When pressed as to why she and her daughter had fallen out, Laine told Valadez, “I don’t know.”
Later in the report, Laine revealed where Kobe and Gianna were laid to rest. She said the location of the cemetery was never made public “so they can rest in peace.”
Watch the Univision segment below.
