Vanessa Bryant has responded to her mother's $5 million lawsuit against her, calling it “frivolous, disgraceful and unimaginably hurtful.” According to People, Sofia Lane is seeking financial support from Bryant, claiming that she worked as an unpaid and longtime personal assistant and nanny for the family. She also claimed that prior to Kobe's death he had “promised to take care of” her “for the rest of her life.” Vanessa claims that isn’t true, saying that her mom is “continuing to try and find ways to extort a financial windfall from our family.”
Vanessa explained, “I have supported her for nearly 20 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 daughters’ full-time caregivers. 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.”
Vanessa continued, “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 10 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.”
She added, “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.”