Vanessa Bryant was given $16 million in damages by a Los Angeles jury after images from the 2020 helicopter accident involving her husband, Kobe Bryant, and their daughter, Gianna, was released. The jury returned their judgment on August 24, finding that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Fire Department did distribute graphic images from the site of the event with others, causing emotional distress and invading the privacy of the victims’ families.
Chris Chester, Bryant’s co-plaintiff, has also been granted $15 million for their combined claim, bringing the total to $31 million. Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and six other Lakers family members died in a horrific helicopter accident in January 2020 in California, Los Angeles. Chester’s wife, Sarah, and their daughter, Payton, were also killed in the tragedy. The trial started on August 10, 2022, and has already revealed some harrowing information about the helicopter crash’s aftermath. Vanessa and Chris filed a lawsuit against the aforementioned agencies for mental and emotional distress. According to the complaint, the images of the dead were publicly shared on 28 devices owned by the Sheriff’s Department.
Ciara and Monica support Vanessa Bryant at trial over crash site photos of husband Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna 🖤 pic.twitter.com/50Ow06duZg
— Dionne Grant (@DionneGrant) August 23, 2022
Vanessa Bryant has not yet become a billionaire.
Vanessa, who was born on May 5, 1982, is a well-known philanthropist. In 2007, she co-founded the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Foundation with the intention of providing scholarships to minority college students all around the globe. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Vanessa Bryant’s current estimated net worth is $600 million, the majority of which was obtained by her late basketball star husband, Kobe Bryant.
Vanessa, then 17, met Kobe, 21, while working as a background dancer for a music video at a studio where Kobe was working on his first album. They began dating soon after and were engaged within six months of meeting. Kobe & Vanessa married in April 2001 at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in California. They had four daughters: Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, Natalia Diamante Bryant, Capri Kobe Bryant, and Bianka Bella Bryant, who died while they were young. Concerning her recently won the case, Vanessa Bryant said that she had panic attacks after learning that photos from Kobe and Gianna’s accident had been disseminated publicly by authorities at the site.
During her testimony last week, the 40-year-old described how she felt at home when she saw the Los Angeles Times piece saying that county personnel had spread photos from the accident scene.
“I dashed out of the home and hurried around the back so the girls couldn’t see me. I wanted to shout and rush down the street.”
After receiving the news, she said she felt “devastated, wounded, and deceived.”
“I never want to see these photos again. I want to remember my spouse and children as they once were.”
Vanessa Bryant rejected a $2.5 million settlement from the county for emotional anguish in November 2021 and elected to sue the county departments for a bigger payout. The two-week emotional trial ended on Mamba Day, which honors the late Lakers icon, whose jersey numbers were #24 and #8.
