Reliving Her Worst Moment
Vanessa spoke in a court deposition via Zoom in October 2021 about how she learned of her husband and daughter’s deaths amid her ongoing lawsuit against the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department. In the transcript of her statement, which was later obtained by Us, Vanessa claimed it took hours for her to be officially informed that the basketball legend and their 13-year-old daughter were killed.
According to Vanessa, an assistant told her of the crash, but at the time “didn’t know” whether Kobe and Gianna were OK. After attempting to call her husband, she and daughter Natalia were driven to the sheriff’s station in Malibu, California. Upon her arrival, Vanessa claimed the officers “weren’t prepared” and wouldn’t answer her when she asked about her loved ones.
Once sheriff Villanueva finally broke the news of their deaths to Vanessa, she said she requested that authorities “secure the area” and preserve the dignity of Kobe and Gianna as well as the rest of the victims.
“I said, ‘If you can’t bring my husband and baby back, please make sure no one takes photographs of them.’ … And he said, ‘I will.’ … I was afraid of fans or drones or helicopters getting images of my husband and my daughter and our friends,” Vanessa said at the hearing, claiming the request was not executed properly, which allegedly led to photos of her deceased being taken by police and spread around.
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