How Kobe Bryant Met His Wife Vanessa

Kobe Bryant and his wife, Vanessa were one of the top power couples in sports. And when Bryant died in a helicopter crash along with his 13-year old daughter Gianna and seven other victims on Jan. 26, Vanessa was shown a ton of support on social media. We know that Bryant and Vanessa were together for over 20 years. But how did they meet?

In a documentary called Kobe Bryant’s Muse which was released on Showtime back in 2015, he talks about the time when he first met Vanessa which was back in 1999 on the set of his music video. Yes, Bryant was making a music video because he was a rapper at one point in his life.

“It was a two-day video shoot, and I was always looking for her, like I wanted to know where she was. I would finish a take and go to my trailer but I would wonder where she was the entire time,” Bryant said. “Then I would come out of the trailer and just wanted to talk to her some more, in between takes and stuff like that.”

Bryant then asked Vanessa for her number and that led to long conversations on the phone. And one of the things they bonded over was their love for Disney.

“She was just beautiful,” he said. “We literally did everything together. Everything together. And I thought I was a big dork because I loved Disneyland. I loved the Disney movies and things like that, but I never really had a chance to go to the park much. She was a big Disney fan, too, and we used to hang out as Disneyland, we used to go to Magic Mountain, she became my best friend.”

The two got engaged when Vanessa turned 18 and they got married on April 18, 2001.

“We decided to get married, I proposed and she said yes,” Bryant said. “We’re both so young, right? We’d wake up and do what kids do. I’d take her to the batting cage, go hit some balls, we’d play miniature golf, go to the movies, go out to eat, it was just a beautiful time, man.”

That led to the couple having four children and Bryant spent a lot more time with them when he retired from the NBA in 2016. Before the crash, Bryant and Gianna were headed to his Mamba Academy because Gianna was taking part in a basketball tournament.