The game of basketball has evolved a long way since short shorts and Dr. Jay, to an era of Basketball Wives on television dressed to the nines on the sidelines.
While Kobe Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, has infamously been quiet through her husband’s public cheating scandal and recently throughout their almost-divorce, she has finally decided to give an interview to NY Mag about fashion of course, riddled with little tidbits about her highly publicized relationship.
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The article, titled “The Belles of B-Ball: How NBA Players’ Wives Vie for Fashion Dominance” was intended to be an article about the fashion of the basketball WAGs, including Tyson Chandler’s wife Kimberly, Amar’e Stoudemire’s fiancée Alexis and Kobe’s beloved Vanessa, but instead served as a rare look into the mind of Vanessa Bryant. The most shocking of the quotes undoubtedly was when Vanessa stated that she would not be married to a man who could not win championships saying:
“I certainly would not want to be married to somebody that can’t win championships. If you’re sacrificing time away from my family and myself for the benefit of winning championships, then winning a championship should happen every single year.”
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Check out some other excerpts from the article below.
Vanessa on why she shies away from press:
I thought things would go away, if you don’t feed into the b.s., and no one would think about you. 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.
On the misconception about how she lives:
I think people imagine that I sit at home with all the time in the world to do my hair and makeup, but that’s certainly not the case,” she says. “I’m up at 6:30 in the morning with my kids. I’m taking them wherever they need to go.” She doesn’t use a nanny—“That’s the way I was raised.”
On meeting Kobe as a teenager:
He’d come to school to get me in a black Mercedes, and flood the school with roses. My curfew was 10 p.m., and he got done with practice at 2 p.m., so that’s how we’d see each other. […] I was 18 and a half [when I was married], and I remember requesting a dress without flowery lace or tulle. Vera Wang designed what she called a glamazon-mermaid gown for me, with fabric-covered buttons down the back.” These days, the dress is stored in her cedar closet, in the exact same condition. “I love it,” she says. “It’s perfect.”
And finally, a little on fashion from Vanessa:
“I’m not really a handbag person anymore,” says Kobe Bryant’s wife, Vanessa. “I’ve collected Birkin bags, Chanel 2.55 jumbo flap bags, and the Marc Jacobs Stephen Sprouse collection for Louis Vuitton since I was a teenager. But now, as they say, everyone and their mom is buying a Birkin or a regular size 2.55 bag in black, taupe, or beige. I’ve been sticking to a magenta suede Proenza Schouler bag.”
Although the interview was widely surrounded around Vanessa, Amar’e Stoudemire’s fiancée Alexis Welch also chimed in on what she believes the role of a wife is when it comes to being with a baller.:
We all want to encourage our men and support them. This is a partnership. We’re going to get everything balanced, and that will be reflected on the court. I’m taking care of the household, making sure the kids are straight, the dog has his food, making sure Amar’e can be a dad at the end of the day, do something that has nothing to do with basketball.
Be sure the check out the baller wives in the gallery above, and head over to NY Mag for the full article.
SOURCE: NY Mag
