Kobe Bryant is among the NBA players who decided to get married young. He was barely 21 years old when he walked down the aisle with Vanessa Bryant in Dana Point, California. Countless people had objections to them marrying young. However, Kobe just had the perfect explanation for this, and it melted the hearts of many.
Furthermore, Kobe’s parents, Joe and Pam Bryant, did not attend the wedding, as they were allegedly not happy with him marrying Vanessa. The Lakers star had a strained relationship with his parents because they disapproved of Vanessa. Things settled down when their first daughter, Natalia Bryant, was born.
In an interview, the 5x NBA championship winner spoke about why he wanted to marry Vanessa despite being young. He said, “We looked it like as a blessing, being fortunate, because we are able to find a person that we are going to spend the rest of our lives with at a young age”.
The two got married in a dreamy setting despite the absence of Kobe’s parents. Additionally, he mentioned, “We have many, many, years to spend together”. Unfortunately, they were only married for almost two decades, as Kobe suddenly died in 2021 because of a helicopter crash.
Kobe Bryant spoke about long age-gap marriages in L.A
Before explaining what marrying young meant for him and Vanessa, Kobe Bryant mentioned how it is funny that people in L.A talk about it. In his own words, “It funny to hear people in L.A. say things like that and then you know you walk down the street go to a restaurant or something and you see a man who’s 65 years old married to like some 20-year old”.
Happy anniversary Kobe and Vanessa Bryant 💜💛 pic.twitter.com/4Z35qInHSc
— Mamba Insider (@Mamba_Insider) April 18, 2021
The Lakers star, who was renowned as the most eligible bachelor, did not get affected by people talking about him marrying young. In fact, he had something ironic to mention when the interviewer asked him about the same. It is undeniable that Kobe’s love and respect for Vanessa were quite evident. He was proud of his decision to marry her at a young age and did not regret it for a second.
Kobe Bryant proposed to Vanessa Bryant 6 months after meeting for the first time
Kobe Bryant and Vanessa Bryant’s love story is something straight out of a dream. The two met each other during the production of a music video. They had a love-at-first-sight moment before going on their first date to Disneyland the very next day.
The two just knew that they had found ‘The One’. So on, Kobe proposed to Vanessa barely six months after they met for the first time. Notably, Vanessa is 3 years younger than Kobe, and so on, they waited for her to turn 18 before getting engaged. This is largely why people wonder if Vanessa left high school to marry Kobe. But, in reality, she was home-schooled due to the public attention that she was receiving.
Furthermore, one of Vanessa’s classmates has revealed how she used to bring Kobe’s pictures to class. To which all of them used to reply, “Omygod”. Kobe had already made a name for himself by the time the two got into the spotlight. With Vanessa’s support and love, he had a legendary career of two decades. They also founded a non-profit organization called ‘Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation‘ that actively works to uplift women’s sports.
