LOS ANGELES – Vanessa Bryant has filed a lawsuit against her mother, claiming she owes him years of pay for working as an unpaid assistant and the support promised by Kobe Bryant, the basketball legend who was killed in a helicopter crash in January .
Bryant issued a statement Thursday saying her mother was trying to “extort a financial heart,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
The 48-page lawsuit filed by 68-year-old Sofia Urbieta Laine claims that Kobe Bryant “promised to take care” of her for life.
“Unfortunately, Kobe Bryant’s promise did not see the light of day as he is now deceased and Vanessa Bryant took every step she could to cancel and cancel all of Kobe’s promises,” the lawsuit said. never intended to honor those wishes.
Kobe Bryant, the 13-year-old daughter of Gianna and seven others, died on January 26 when their helicopter crashed on the hills of Calabasas. Financial experts estimate that Vanessa Bryant inherited control of a property worth up to $ 600 million, the Times said.
The statement Vanessa Bryant said she and her husband allowed her mother to live for free on one of their properties on the Tuna coast of Newport Beach, but she never promised anything and did not discourage her from caring.
“She was a grandmother who was supported by me and her son-in-law at my request,” said Vanessa Bryant. “Now he wants to charge me back $ 96 an hour because he is supposed to work 12 hours a day for 18 years because he followed his grandchildren. In fact, she only occasionally took care of my older girls when they were little. “
Vanessa Bryant said that earlier this year she started looking for a new home for her mother and that her mother gave a TV interview in which she claimed that she was forced to leave the house and return a luxury car.
“Even after that betrayal, I was willing to give my mother monthly support for the rest of my life, and that wasn’t good enough,” Vanessa Bryant said. “Instead, she contacted me through intermediaries – contrary to what she claims, my phone number has not changed – and asked for $ 5 million, a house and a Mercedes SUV.”