“In late 1999 school officials banned 21 year old Bryant from coming near campus or attending any school events with the 16 year old Vanessa Laine,“

[King Harlem]

I don't really understand the point of these discussions. As someone who is older now, people between the ages of 17 and 20 are peers (just my opinion). I'm not trying to advocate for anyone taking advantage of anyone else, but this clearly wasn't the case with Kobe. He saw Vanessa and thought she was the one and ended marrying and having a family with her.

 

[ajnapoleon]

Yeah this type of stuff is very female

 

[bl2k8]

Some of you cats are literally annoyed that kobe died and it’s CRAZY to watch in real time

 

[lib123]

21 and 16 raised a lot of eyebrows back then.

In today’s culture it would likely be a much bigger issue.

That said, they did manage to stay together for a very long time. I don’t know that it makes the age gap okay, but it at least suggests it was a real relationship and not deliberate exploitation.

This is the kind of story that really does not need to be rehashed in 2025.

Kobe and Vanessa met in late 1999. She was 17 (born May 1982) and he was 21 (August ‘78). I don’t know why they’re trying to say she was 16 now.

 

[Sccit]

What does "all them options" even mean? i forgot the part where famous black dudes easily find women that are gonna stay with him for the long haul. At the end of the day the woman Kobe chose never broke up the family and even after death has held down his and his daughters legacy.

But yeah im sure any chick would've done the same Y'all the same nikkas who look up to Duke Dennis and shyt.

SHE EVEN STUCK WIT HIM AFTER HE CHEATED

ALL THEM "OTHER OPTIONS" WOULDA UNDENIABLY TOOK HIM FOR ALL HE GOT

INCELS SHOWIN THEY AZZ IN THIS 1

 

[D1renegade]

I bet not seeing any Josh “Kiddy” jokesters in here hand waving this away..

It’s amazing what people will tolerate as long as it’s their beloved celebrity doing it.

Idolatry…

 

[The Amerikkkan Idol]

Look, I don't know what the whole LeBron/Kobe thing have to do with any of this, but as somebody who never rocked with either of them & was in high-school in the '90s, lemme tell y'all.

This was the norm.

Not weird, not out of the ordinary.

The norm.

Every girl I went to high-school with who was worth a damn had a boyfriend who was in college.

We were young & broke nikkaz living with our moms, so they didn't want us.

They wanted grown ass men & that's what they got.

Now, I'll say the R. Kelly shyt, where he was 27 & Aaliyah was 15 was a HUGE scandal back in the '90s

But a college age dude dating a girl in late high-school was just normal back then.

Hell, Jerry Seinfeld was damn near 40 & dating a girl that was like 17

I think for most people 17 year olds were fair game.

And let me just say, y'all aint shyt for comparing Kobe to Karl Malone.

Go look at a 12/13 year old & look at a 17 year old & get back to me.

 

[Sccit]

Look, I don't know what the whole LeBron/Kobe thing have to do with any of this, but as somebody who never rocked with either of them & was in high-school in the '90s, lemme tell y'all.

This was the norm.

Not weird, not out of the ordinary.

The norm.

Every girl I went to high-school with who was worth a damn had a boyfriend who was in college.

We were young & broke nikkaz living with our moms, so they didn't want us.

They wanted grown ass men & that's what they got.

Now, I'll say the R. Kelly shyt, where he was 27 & Aaliyah was 15 was a HUGE scandal back in the '90s

But a college age dude dating a girl in late high-school was just normal back then.

Hell, Jerry Seinfeld was damn near 40 & dating a girl that was like 17

I think for most people 17 year olds were fair game.

And let me just say, y'all aint shyt for comparing Kobe to Karl Malone.

Go look at a 12/13 year old & look at a 17 year old & get back to me.

THAT PART

U CAN TELL WHOS A SOCIALLY MALADJUSTED NERD THAT GETS THEIR INFO FROM THE INTERNET RATHER THAN REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE BASED ON THESE REPLIES

 

[Lord Beasley]

Let that man rest bytch ass op

 

[darryl]

Look, I don't know what the whole LeBron/Kobe thing have to do with any of this, but as somebody who never rocked with either of them & was in high-school in the '90s, lemme tell y'all.

This was the norm.

Not weird, not out of the ordinary.

The norm.

Every girl I went to high-school with who was worth a damn had a boyfriend who was in college.

We were young & broke nikkaz living with our moms, so they didn't want us.

They wanted grown ass men & that's what they got.

Now, I'll say the R. Kelly shyt, where he was 27 & Aaliyah was 15 was a HUGE scandal back in the '90s

But a college age dude dating a girl in late high-school was just normal back then.

Hell, Jerry Seinfeld was damn near 40 & dating a girl that was like 17

I think for most people 17 year olds were fair game.

And let me just say, y'all aint shyt for comparing Kobe to Karl Malone.

Go look at a 12/13 year old & look at a 17 year old & get back to me.

"But but don't forget R Kelly", "but but don't forget Jerry Seinfeld"

 

[Ozymandeas]

Most of us knew and don't give a shyt because we around the same age as Kobe so we vividly remember the finest girls at our high schools all getting picked up by older men who already graduated.

Nobody gave a damn then so stop trying to make it an issue now.

It was a different time. People trying to make this a thing when Jay-Z is still walking around married to Beyonce.

Bruh started dating Beyonce the moment she turned 18 and he was 31 years old

The world was different then and that's all I'll say.

 

[DropTopDoc]

What does "all them options" even mean? i forgot the part where famous black dudes easily find women that are gonna stay with him for the long haul. At the end of the day the woman Kobe chose never broke up the family and even after death has held down his and his daughters legacy.

But yeah im sure any chick would've done the same Y'all the same nikkas who look up to Duke Dennis and shyt.

I guess a it’s a foreign concept to think a woman can hold you down, and you couldn’t possibly find that at 21 with millions to your name, famous, traveling all over America, but yes a 17 year old aspiring video vixen, is def wife material, (I’m sure she was on set cuz she knew the career path of video model is such a long lasting fulfilling and lucrative career) she saw and her mother did too, a sucka and lined his young ass up, and she coached her daughter better than Phil jackson, i have no doubt she loved him(eventually) but she played a role, and knew better than to leave, she had him so open the nikka ain’t get a pre nup, (does that sound smart, would you tell your son not to get one)

 

[mvp_status]

This thread is jokes, got people all over this thread adding and subtracting years based on their agendas lol

 

[Foxmulder]

Some of you sound like some lipstick alley bytches. Clutching pearls over a 20 year old dating a 17 year old.

 

[Eye Cue DA COLI GAWD]

Look, I don't know what the whole LeBron/Kobe thing have to do with any of this, but as somebody who never rocked with either of them & was in high-school in the '90s, lemme tell y'all.

This was the norm.

Not weird, not out of the ordinary.

The norm.

Every girl I went to high-school with who was worth a damn had a boyfriend who was in college.

We were young & broke nikkaz living with our moms, so they didn't want us.

They wanted grown ass men & that's what they got.

Now, I'll say the R. Kelly shyt, where he was 27 & Aaliyah was 15 was a HUGE scandal back in the '90s

But a college age dude dating a girl in late high-school was just normal back then.

Hell, Jerry Seinfeld was damn near 40 & dating a girl that was like 17

I think for most people 17 year olds were fair game.

And let me just say, y'all aint shyt for comparing Kobe to Karl Malone.

Go look at a 12/13 year old & look at a 17 year old & get back to me.

The issue isn't only the age gap, but it's the grooming process that many older people (men & women) use to attract younger, inexperienced victims. At 21, Kobe was in his 4th year in the league. Why a nikka like that pursuing a juvenile who getting ready to go to prom?

Weirdo & suspicious behavior.