Vanessa Bryant has reached a settlement in the lawsuit filed against her by her mother, Sofia Lane. Terms of the settlement have not been made public but TMZ reports the case is officially closed.
The news arrives eight months after Lane sued Vanessa for $5 million, alleging that she worked as an unpaid and “longtime personal assistant and nanny” for the Bryant family. The 68-year-old claimed that prior to Kobe Bryant’s death in January 2020, he had “promised to take care of” her “for the rest of her life.”
“Kobe Bryant’s promises did not see the light of day as he is now deceased, and Vanessa Bryant took each and every step she could to void and cancel all of Kobe Bryant’s promises made to [Laine],” the complaint read. “Vanessa Bryant did not intend to honor any of the Bryants’ representations, agreements and promises at any stage.”
After the lawsuit was filed last December, Vanessa accused her mother of attempting extortion, claiming that her late husband Kobe never promised her mother anything.
“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,” Bryant told People in her statement. “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.”
“She was a grandmother who was supported by me and her son-in-law at my request,” Bryant claimed. “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.”
