Vanessa Laine Bryant

Vanessa, Kobe and Gianna watch as Natalia Bryant gives President Barack Obama girl guide cookies.

Vanessa Laine Bryant is the widow of Kobe Bryant. She is Mexican-American. She adopted the surname Laine from her stepfather in 1998. In 1999 she and a friend were spotted by talent scouts, at a nightclub, and recruited to be backup dancers in music videos. She met Kobe Bryant in 1999, when she was hired to work as a dancer in a video he made.

Vanessa has used her husband's wealth to support various good causes.

She has also actively promoted the trademarks taken out in her husband's name, and in the name of her second daughter, Gianna Bryant. Kobe coached the basketball team in which Gianna played, and sports commentators had already begun to speculate over which college basketball team she would play for, in College.