Vanessa Bryant Claims Mom Is Trying To 'Extort A Financial Windfall' With Lawsuit: It's 'Unimaginably Hurtful'

Vanessa Bryant is speaking out against a lawsuit her mother has filed against her. On Dec. 15, Sofia Laine sued her daughter and the estate of her late son-in-law, Kobe Bryant, for money damages – a legal move that Vanessa claims is an attempt to "extort a financial windfall from [her] family." In court documents filed in California Superior Court and obtained by Access Hollywood, Laine claims among other things that she worked as the Bryant family's, quote, "longtime personal assistant and nanny," but was never paid, despite her claim that Kobe promised that she'd be financially taken care of for life. Vanessa denied her mother's claims in a statement to People; she claimed Laine was never working for the family and that she was "now trying to get more money than [she and Kobe] ever spent to provide for her while he was alive."