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Vanessa Bryant’s mother, Sofia Laine, is responding to her daughter’s statement following news of her $5 million lawsuit against the Bryant family making headlines.
Last week, Sofia filed a lawsuit against her daughter, which drove Vanessa to come forward and let fans know all of the claims in the suit are false, accusing her mother of trying to extort her. This caused Laine to issue a statement to TMZ over the weekend, in which, she reiterates her claims that Vanessa has abandoned her, financially, following the death of her husband, Kobe Bryant .
“For starters, I would like to state that I do not enjoy airing our family grievances in the public. Although I filed a lawsuit, I did not make any public comments and was hoping for the court process to run its course without the publicity, as hurtful as it is. I did not want this and do not want this,” Laine said in her statement.
“However I did not have a choice as it is Vanessa’s own doing that has resulted in this now public quarrel. All I wanted is what I worked for. 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,” She continued. “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 dong this to me?”
Laine went on to reinforce her claims that she was a nanny to the Bryant family as well as their personal assistant over the years, which is something that Vanessa continues to deny. Sofia also said the $96 an hour wage--which she is suing for--is a rate that was decided by her daughter, not her.
“As for the $96.00 hourly wage that I am seeking, it was actually Vanessa that set this wage and not me,” she explained. “When Vanessa moved me out of my home and into an apartment, she completed a rental application in my name, without my knowledge, and wrote that I was being paid $200,000 annually, which equates to a $96.00 per hour wage.”
In the statement, Laine also accused her daughter of cancelling and voiding “everything that I was entitled to” after Kobe’s death. She insists her son-in-law promised to support her, financially, for her entire life.
“Promises were made, work was done, and, in the end, Vanessa cancelled and voided everything that I was entitled to,” she continued. “What Vanessa did to me in private was hurtful. Now, she is hurting me even more in public and it is exceedingly difficult for me to go forward but I am strong, and I will persevere, even though she has a very large and expensive public relations team. I have nothing to hide.”
In the days following this lawsuit being filed, Vanessa Bryant has been posting cryptic messages to her Instagram Stories about being betrayed by family, which are clearly about the rocky relationship with her mother.