How Vanessa Bryant Became 'Queen Mamba'

Young Vanessa

Vanessa Urbieta Cornejo Laine was born on May 5, 1982, in Los Angeles. She was a happy but quiet kid, whose friends describe as 'deeply family-orientated'. Her family was also pretty protective and didn't let her date much as a teenager.

Facebook // 1990's-2000's.

Vanessa lived with her mom and sister Sophie. Her parents divorced when she was a baby, her dad then moving to Baja, Mexico. After her mom remarried, Vanessa started using her step-dad's surname Laine, which she changed to legally in high school.

Music Video Star

Vanessa always had something magnetic about her, and during the summer of 1999, just before she began her senior year of high school, she was spotted at a concert and asked to appear in a music video.

Reddit // u/qwertyfriends12

Vanessa was called to appear in a music video alongside rappers Snoop Dogg and Tha Eastsidaz for their song "G'd Up" and wore a metallic bikini for her debut as a video vixen. She was already turning heads back in 1999!

Vanessa Meets Kobe

In 1999, the same year that 17-year-old Vanessa appeared in the video for "G'd Up," she met 19-year-old Kobe Bryant. Vanessa shared this photo on Instagram in 2019, saying, "The day we met 20 years ago. K.o.b.e I love YOU," marking the date as 11/27/99.

Reddit // u/qwertyfriends12

The pair met on the set of another music video, but it wasn't until the following day that Kobe plucked up the courage to ask Vanessa for her phone number, and she obliged!

First Date At Disneyland

Vanessa and Kobe's first official date was a trip to Disneyland. Kobe was already a big star, and bodyguards followed them around the park to make sure the couple was safe and to ward off paparazzi.

Instagram // @vanessabryant

This would become a regular occurrence as the couple dated, with security slipping them into previously blocked-off streets after a movie a the local Cineplex. Reporters ever waited at the doorstep of her grandfather's house, which irritated the family girl, who wanted to shield her relatives from the press.

Public Early On

The couple's relationship was public from very early on, and their relationship caused quite a commotion while she was attending her senior year at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California, as reporters tried to interview her classmates.

Facebook // Marina High School - Home of the Vikings

"She'd bring pictures of Kobe to school, and we'd all be like 'Oh My God!'" Vanessa's former classmate Monica Squadrilli told the Los Angeles Times. "I remember there was one of him playing with her puppies, and she would only let us look at it, we couldn't touch it."