What Ethnicity Is Vanessa Bryant? Meet Her Mother Sofia Laine And Sister Sophie Laine

Vanessa Marie Bryant, known for her marriage to the late and legendary basketball player Kobe Bryant, is an American Philanthropist.

Bryant, born Vanessa Urbieta Cornejo, founded the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant foundation in 2007.

This foundation aims to provide scholarships to minority college students worldwide. The philanthropist also leads the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation.

This foundation aims to help and support child athletes who are in need. She also serves as the current CEO of Granity Studios. The foundation used to be called the Mamba Sports Foundation, but Bryant changed the name after her husband and second-oldest daughter’s deaths.

Granity Studios is a multimedia original content company that was formed by Vanessa’s late husband, Kobe Bryant.

The company focuses on creating new ways to tell stories about sports. Kobe launched the company in 2013 and envisioned it as a company that developed different media, ranging from films to television shows to novels.

Bryant started her career in philanthropy with her husband in 2007 when the two founded the VIVO foundation, which would become the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Foundation.

Bryant was also the founding donor of the National Museum of African American History and Culture alongside her late husband.

Recently, Bryant has worked with Baby2Baby to support poverty-stricken women and children, receiving a philanthropy award in November 2021.

Bryant also received an award for leadership in her various foundation on February 8, 2022.

Here Are Some Facts About Vanessa Bryant

What Is Vanessa Bryant’s Ethnicity?

Philanthropist Vanessa Bryant’s ethnicity is of Mexican descent, and she was born on May 5, 1982.

Bryant was born in Los Angeles, California. Though her family home was in Garden Grove, she spent much of her childhood with her step-grandfather, Robert Laine, in Huntington Beach, California.

Bryant went to school in Huntington Beach’s Marina High School. While in high school, Bryant and Rowena Ireifej, her friend, went to a hip-hop concert at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater.

While at the concert, a company approached the two and offered them work as music video extras and backup dancers.

Bryant would take the offer and appear in music videos for various hip-hop artists like Krayzie Bone and Snoop Dogg, to name a few. Reportedly her mother chaperoned her to the video shoots.

It was at the shooting of the music video for the song “G’d Up” by the rap group Tha Eastsidaz where Bryant would meet her future husband, Kobe Bryant. The two would date soon after, but their high-profile relationship caused disruptions at Vanessa Bryant’s high school, which led her to complete her senior year at home.

She graduated high school with honors in 2000.

More About Vanessa Bryant’s Family- Her Mother Sofia Laine And Sister Sophie Laine

Vanessa Bryant’s biological father divorced her mother and left the family when she was three years old, moving to Baja, California.

Her mother, Sofia Lane, worked as a shipping clerk at an electronics company and raised Vannessa and her older sister, Sophie, on her own.

The situation changed when she married Stephen Laine in 1990. Laine was a middle manager at the same electronics company Sofia worked.

Vanessa started going by Laine after her mother’s marriage and even officially changed her name to Vanessa Marie Laine in 2000, though her stepfather never officially adopted her.

Vanessa’s relationship with her mother soured after the death of her husband and daughter, as Sofia Laine would go on an interview soon after the tragedy and tell the media that Vanessa had kicked her out.

Bryant would fire back with an Instagram post where she’d reveal that her mother had attempted to back charge Bryant with 18 years of babysitting for $96 an hour.

Fans rushed to Vanessa’s defense, and the court settled the lawsuit lobbied by her mother later in 2021.

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How Much Is Vanessa Bryant’s Net Worth?

Vanessa Byrant, the wife of the late and legendary Kobe Bryant, has an estimated net worth of $600 million as of 2022.

Bryant’s net worth comes mostly from the success of her late husband, Kobe Bryant. Before his passing, she had a net worth of $75 million.

Of course, things like net worth fluctuate throughout a person’s life; many things have aligned to increase Bryant’s net worth.

First of all, and most tragically, Kobe Byrant passed away, and his wife inherited much of his wealth. Byrant also sold their luxury mansion, which they bought in 2003.

The mansion they’d bought for $2.75 million, Bryant was reportedly selling for $3.75 million.

After Kobe and Gigi’s death, Vanessa sued Los Angeles County on January 26, 2020, for invasion of privacy and negligence because they took pictures of the crash that took the father and daughter’s lives and their corpses and shared them improperly.

A trial took place on February 22, 2022, and months later, in August 2022, Bryant was awarded $16 million in damages.

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