BigTyme Records
Superstar
He was on his Karl Malone shyt in the 90s 
In late 1999, when he was 21, Bryant met the girl who would put an end to his bachelor days. Vanessa Laine, 16, aspiring model and high-school sophomore, was working as a background dancer in a Snoop Dogg video that was shooting at the same studio where Bryant was trying to film his own rap video. (For a brief moment, Bryant wanted a future as a rap star.) The two clicked immediately. "He was into her," recalls Snoop.
Soon, Bryant was picking up Laine at school in his black Mercedes and dropping her off in the mornings. (The teenager was living with her stepgrandfather at the time and had lots of freedom.) When TV news crews got wind of the romance, they regularly began flying helicopters over the Marina High campus in Huntington Beach, Calif., to get shots of the couple. The courtship caused such a stir that school authorities banned Bryant from coming near campus or attending any school events with her. Marina High officials declined to discuss the matter. "It just set this bad example for the school and the kids, but Kobe didn't understand what the message was when he dropped her off early in the morning," says his friend Tonahill. Bryant's eventual answer to the problem was to pay for Vanessa to be home-schooled.
As disapproving as school officials were, it was nothing compared with the disappointment of Bryant's family, who watched as Kobe became "unnaturally attached" to Vanessa, as one family friend put it. With her long, fire-engine-red fingernails and black lipliner, Vanessa had little in common with the successful young women Kobe had romanced in the past. The family thought she was too young and uncultured, and the fact that she wasn't black--Laine's mother is Hispanic and her father is white--didn't help. His teammates didn't know what to make of Vanessa, either. "We all knew he got so attached to her because he needed a friend, someone to hang out with," says a fellow Laker. "I'm not sure if it was love, or he was just happy that someone accepted him with no complaints. He didn't understand that she was a kid and she was in awe of him." When Tonahill asked Kobe what he saw in the 16-year-old, he responded, "She's pure, and innocent, and not jaded by the world."
Even though his family hoped the relationship was a passing fancy, in public they tried to be supportive, appearing at games with Vanessa and her mother and stepfather, and coming together at the end of the 2000 season to celebrate what would be the first of three consecutive championships for Bryant and the Lakers.
But it didn't last. when Kobe proposed to Vanessa with a seven-carat diamond engagement ring and announced that she would be moving into the Pacific Palisades mansion, the family exploded, a person close to the situation said. They pointed out to him that Vanessa and her mother were spending a great deal of Kobe's money on Rodeo Drive, and that the Laine family was in tough financial straits. They pleaded with Kobe to take it slow, or at the very least to get a solid prenuptial agreement. It was a dicey subject to broach, given that Kobe's father, sisters and brother-in-law were all working for him in various capacities. Angered and insulted, Bryant withdrew.
"He was so torn by that situation, so upset about the directions he was being pulled," said Tonahill. It wasn't just his family who disapproved of the marriage. Laker coach Phil Jackson encouraged him to hold off for a few years. Reportedly, Michael Jordan and a couple of other athletes also made calls to Bryant suggesting that he take it slow, or at least get a prenup. "He just said, 'I can make the money back'," says a player who tried to advise him. "He was like, 'She can have it, because I'm young and I don't see it ending like that way anyway'." His agent, Tellum, was so frustrated by Bryant's refusal to get a prenuptial agreement that he stopped representing him. In April 2001, Bryant married Laine in a small Catholic church in Dana Point. None of his family or teammates was there.

In late 1999, when he was 21, Bryant met the girl who would put an end to his bachelor days. Vanessa Laine, 16, aspiring model and high-school sophomore, was working as a background dancer in a Snoop Dogg video that was shooting at the same studio where Bryant was trying to film his own rap video. (For a brief moment, Bryant wanted a future as a rap star.) The two clicked immediately. "He was into her," recalls Snoop.
Soon, Bryant was picking up Laine at school in his black Mercedes and dropping her off in the mornings. (The teenager was living with her stepgrandfather at the time and had lots of freedom.) When TV news crews got wind of the romance, they regularly began flying helicopters over the Marina High campus in Huntington Beach, Calif., to get shots of the couple. The courtship caused such a stir that school authorities banned Bryant from coming near campus or attending any school events with her. Marina High officials declined to discuss the matter. "It just set this bad example for the school and the kids, but Kobe didn't understand what the message was when he dropped her off early in the morning," says his friend Tonahill. Bryant's eventual answer to the problem was to pay for Vanessa to be home-schooled.
As disapproving as school officials were, it was nothing compared with the disappointment of Bryant's family, who watched as Kobe became "unnaturally attached" to Vanessa, as one family friend put it. With her long, fire-engine-red fingernails and black lipliner, Vanessa had little in common with the successful young women Kobe had romanced in the past. The family thought she was too young and uncultured, and the fact that she wasn't black--Laine's mother is Hispanic and her father is white--didn't help. His teammates didn't know what to make of Vanessa, either. "We all knew he got so attached to her because he needed a friend, someone to hang out with," says a fellow Laker. "I'm not sure if it was love, or he was just happy that someone accepted him with no complaints. He didn't understand that she was a kid and she was in awe of him." When Tonahill asked Kobe what he saw in the 16-year-old, he responded, "She's pure, and innocent, and not jaded by the world."
Even though his family hoped the relationship was a passing fancy, in public they tried to be supportive, appearing at games with Vanessa and her mother and stepfather, and coming together at the end of the 2000 season to celebrate what would be the first of three consecutive championships for Bryant and the Lakers.
But it didn't last. when Kobe proposed to Vanessa with a seven-carat diamond engagement ring and announced that she would be moving into the Pacific Palisades mansion, the family exploded, a person close to the situation said. They pointed out to him that Vanessa and her mother were spending a great deal of Kobe's money on Rodeo Drive, and that the Laine family was in tough financial straits. They pleaded with Kobe to take it slow, or at the very least to get a solid prenuptial agreement. It was a dicey subject to broach, given that Kobe's father, sisters and brother-in-law were all working for him in various capacities. Angered and insulted, Bryant withdrew.
"He was so torn by that situation, so upset about the directions he was being pulled," said Tonahill. It wasn't just his family who disapproved of the marriage. Laker coach Phil Jackson encouraged him to hold off for a few years. Reportedly, Michael Jordan and a couple of other athletes also made calls to Bryant suggesting that he take it slow, or at least get a prenup. "He just said, 'I can make the money back'," says a player who tried to advise him. "He was like, 'She can have it, because I'm young and I don't see it ending like that way anyway'." His agent, Tellum, was so frustrated by Bryant's refusal to get a prenuptial agreement that he stopped representing him. In April 2001, Bryant married Laine in a small Catholic church in Dana Point. None of his family or teammates was there.