The Kobe Bryant life took another strange turn as his housekeeper introduced a lawsuit in court in March 2009. The case, which is pending, is aimed at the entire Kobe Bryant family but highlights Bryant’s wife as the main perpetrator of a number of humiliating crimes against the housekeeper, who worked for the family in their Orange County home in California from September 2007 through March 2008. The Bryant clan has responded that the allegations are baseless and that their former employee is just seeking easy money at their expense.
Though this is not a Kobe Bryant scandal to rival either the alleged rape charges filed in Colorado in 2001 against the star or the persistent rumors that he was the driving force in ejecting Shaq from the Lakers, it still interests everyone because of what it may reveal about his wife. Vanessa, who was a daily part of the Kobe Bryant news during the Colorado scandal, has been rumored to be a hothead who makes great demands of those around her. Critics point to her wearing an obscene shirt to Laker games during the trial or her several tirades to individual press members as evidence of her tyrannical ways. An ESPN reported almost filed a lawsuit for being caught in an obscenity-laced tirade in 2008.
The lawsuit from Maria Jiminez, their ex-housekeeper and a native of Peru, raises those same set of emotional issues surrounding Vanessa. She alleges that Vanessa repeatedly screamed derogatory terms at her during her 6-month career at their home and forced her to work 60-hour weeks without overtime or proper pay. This behavior was allegedly in front of the entire Kobe Bryant family. The worst allegation, which is up there in salaciousness with the other Kobe Bryant scandal, alleges that Vanessa force Jiminez into reaching into a bag of dog feces to retrieve a blouse tag that Jiminez supposedly ruined. Jiminez wanted to quit but she alleges she was forced to work until the end of the month in order to pay off this bill. On another occasion, she says, one of the children sought comfort from Jiminez and ran to her crying. As she prepared to hold the child, she alleges that Vanessa screamed in front of everyone that she was not to touch her baby. Kobe is shown to be the peacekeeper when he was at the house, according to Jiminez, and he would often talk her out of quitting with his charming smile.
The total value of the claim against the Bryants is unknown, though Jiminez did specify that she is seeking $20,000 in unpaid overtime alone. Often these cases will allege millions of dollars due to mental or emotional distress. For their part, the Bryants patently deny anything close to what Jiminez describes actually happened. Through their Los Angeles attorney, they have responded that the charges are baseless and that Jiminez is motivated by the money she hopes to gain by blackmailing the Bryants to pay her to avoid another Kobe Bryant scandal.
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