Yesterday I featured a quote from Vanessa Bryant in the New York Magazine piece on NBA wifeys and their affinity for style. The article features interviews with Tyson Chandler’s wife, Kimberly, giving details of a ‘Pretty Woman’ shopping spree courtesy of her husband and Alexis Welch, newly minted fiance of Amar’e Stoudemire, along with the de facto queen bee wifey, Vanessa.
The piece actually seems to be more about the lifestyle than “fashion” per se, but I’m cool with that. After reading some of Vanessa’s commentary, it solidified a point I’ve been making for years about being the wife of a star athlete. In order for those relationships to work, the wife or girlfriend can’t be a career girl. I’ll delve more into that topic after you check out a few of Vanessa’s quotes:
Vanessa on life in the limelight:
“I thought things would go away, if you don’t feed into the b.s., and no one would think about you,” says Bryant, sitting on a black horseshoe-shaped couch on the palazzo outside of her pastel Newport Coast mansion, the Pacific spread beneath her, a Pomeranian named Gucci at her feet. “Now I realize I do have to talk about certain things. Still, I don’t like the limelight. There’s a lot of good you can do with fame, like creating awareness for a foundation, but a lot of negativity comes along with it.”
The status of Vanessa and Kobe:
“Um,” she says, “yes. We’re working on things.”
On being the Ice Queen of the NBA and those rumors:
“Everything is false,” she says. “Khloé was at my 29th birthday. I don’t get involved in the drama. I’ve been with Kobe since I was 17, so I’ve seen plenty of players, and plenty of wives, come and go. It wouldn’t benefit me whatsoever to have an issue with any of them, whether they were a girlfriend, or a wife, a person-of-a-month, or … you know. And I think that’s why the Lakers as an organization give me the access that I have, that other wives don’t have.” She talks about the tunnel on the way to the locker room that she stands in to give Kobe a kiss after games, the one that cameras always pan to. “If you notice, I am the only one allowed in that tunnel,” says Bryant. “I don’t like standing outside and giving him a kiss in front of all the cameras. So I stand in there to get away from them. But then the cameras end up following. And if the girls are there, sometimes, that’s their kiss good night for Daddy, and when he comes home, they’re asleep.”
People often wonder what Kobe saw in Vanessa outside of her looks. Various entities have blasted Vanessa for years, wondering exactly what it is that she does to contribute to the partnership.
Can I be honest, making sure a meal is on the table (no matter if she cooked or ordered in), that the kids are straight (Vanessa doesn’t believe in nannies, kudos on that one), and just being there to rub his back, that’s what these guys want.
The bulk of them aren’t looking for some super ambitious career chick, they want a woman that is available to them when THEY have free time.
Unless we’re talking about their “celebrity chick,”… that’s a whole other level of the game.
I will say this, though. Being thrilled that the Lakers allow you to wait in the tunnel to kiss Kobe is… LAME. I’m sorry, Nessa. That’s about keeping Kobe content, not about respecting your legacy as a Laker wife. But hey, whatever makes you happy.
you can check the entire piece HERE
