January 26, 2020 will forever be the day that life changed for Vanessa Bryant and her family. That day her husband Kobe Bryant an NBA legend, their daughter Gianna and seven others lost their life when their helicopter crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, California. As if the memories of the fateful day and time thereafter aren’t enough for Vanessa and her family to deal with. Imagine hearing that those who were entrusted to investigate and clean up the crash site, reportedly took pictures of the tragedy and shared them with others.
That’s what happened and Vanessa Bryant filed a lawsuit against LA County for invasion of privacy. The case is currently being heard, and during her nearly three hours on the witness stand, Vanessa detailed what that felt like to hear that those entrusted public authorities were doing the unthinkable.
“I felt like I wanted to run, run down the block and scream. It was like the feeling of wanting to run down a pier and jump into the water. The problem is I can’t escape, I can’t escape my body.”
“I bolted out of the house and around to the side so my girls wouldn’t see. I was blindsided again, devastated, hurt, I trusted them. I trusted them not to do these things.”
Bryant Says She Lives In Fear: Afraid Pics Will Show Up On Social Media
With those photos being shared anyone could have them and one day decide to release via social media or whatever. And for that very reason Bryant says she loves each day in that she could one see those horrific photos all over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Tik Tok. No one who’s experienced any type of tragedy should have to live with that type of cloud over their head. She also fears her three daughters getting wind of it, if it did unfortunately happen.
“I live in fear every day of being on social media and these popping up. I live in fear of my daughters being on social media and these popping up.”
Bryant says because of that fear alone she suffers from panic attacks, which cause her to not be able to breathe. Hearing her say that makes you wonder what would happen if the pictures did actually go viral. Vanessa, and her girls have suffered enough and she shouldn’t have to even go through this. Which is why whoever shared the photos should be jailed for lack of empathy and sympathy. It’s almost unfathomable that folks can be so cruel and deceptive, but in today’s society it seems as if they’ll do anything to get a reaction, not thinking about those effected.
Vanessa Has Had Her Hands Full Since Kobe’s Death:
Since Bryant’s death, Vanessa has had other battles to fight outside of this one. There was his shoe and apparel deal with Nike that expired in April 2021. At the time of the contract ending, Vanessa and Nike agreed to part ways. One of the main reasons was Vanessa had grown upset about the lack of Kobe’s signature shoe and other items being available for fans to purchase following his death. In March of this year the two sides rekindled and agreed to partner to continue to create sneakers in honor of Kobe and Gianna’s legacy.
In keeping her husband’s and daughters memory tied to the Kobe Signature line of sneakers, Vanessa recently checked NBA insider Shams Charania for calling Chicago Bulls star DeMar Derozon the face of Kobe’s shoe line, because of his affirmation of wearing the sneakers everytime he steps on the hardwood. Vanessa quickly shut that false rumor down and made it clear that Kobe is the face of the line, and if that changes her and Nike would have a joint announcement.
With that settled, now Vanessa is hoping to keep the memories of that horrific day as far away from the world as she can.
