“B*tch, you wasn’t with me shooting in the gym.”-Drake
Repeat for emphasis, please.
It’s tough for me to hear what’s happening to Kobe Bryant, man.
As you probably already know, Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s future ex-wife, filed for divorce back in December. Allegedly, the reason being is that she has grown tired of his cheating ways.
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There was no long, drawn out battle in court. The two settled, and here is the haul that Vanessa is going to pull in when everything is said and done: $75 million, which is half of Kobe’s assets, valued at $150, and all three of the ex-couple’s mansions.
I don’t mean to sound like the leader of “NO MA’AM” here, but that’s absurd; we need divorce reform.
Marriage laws are different state by state, so we’ll just look at California. Cali is considered a “community property” state, which means that all income earned during a marriage is to be shared by both parties, who are each considered equal partners. Even when they’re not.
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So, essentially, you can bust your a*s all day, everyday, and bring home all the money, while your spouse stays home and twiddles his or her thumbs, not making a dime. Yet both of you would be considered equal.
Which brings us to Kobe and Vanessa Bryant.
I couldn’t tell you one thing that Vanessa has done since 2001, when she got married to Kobe.
But I could tell you what Kobe has done. He has solidified himself as one of the ten best players of all time.
To get where Kobe has gotten took a lifetime of hard work.
That wasn’t Vanessa.
I’m sure Vanessa was supportive during their marriage. But the truth is that the $150 million he made while they were together is really just an accumulation of millions of hours of practice he did from the time he was a child to the time he got in the league. It takes years of sculpting to get where Kobe has gotten.
My argument ender would be this: if there was no Vanessa, would Kobe still have his fortune? I say absolutely so.
Remember: Kobe met her in 1999, his third year in he league. At that point, he was already averaging 20 points a game and was the second best player on a play-off team. Not only that, but he already had his own shoe deal with adidas, and he had a gold-selling rap album.
By the time they got married, in April 2001, he was considered one of the five best players in the league and on his way to winning a second championship.
Yep, he would have been just fine.
Now, there are those who say she deserves half because of the rape case back in 2004. If you don’t remember, a hotel worker in Colorado claimed that the Lakers star raped her. Kobe denied the rape charges but did admit to having sex with her. The two parties ended up settling and Vanessa stayed with her husband.
I’ll concede that she deserves something for that case and all the other (alleged) cheating.
Just not half.
I’d say she should get half if she was by Kobe’s side since he first picked up that basketball at three years old all the way to now.
But she wasn’t.
Give her $10 million, child support for the kids, and one house.
Not half.
-Dimas S.
