"Kobe barely has a high school education " wtf
Kobe is one of the smartest people in the league and you act like having some useless college degree makes you smarter. Kobe speaks 5 languages but barely has a high school education...
Smart people can make stupid decisions when swayed by emotion or bias. Kobe might be smart but that doesn't preclude him from making stuupid decisions. Further education gives a man experience with other highly educated people and broadens his exposure to highly educated women. Kobe never had that luxury. In spite of his intellect Kobe never spent any voluminous amount of time with such people as a youth. This is partly why he might have been so open to dating a bottom dweller like Vanessa. His conceited sense of self explains the rest:
"Four days after Vanessa and Kobe announced their engagement at her 18th birthday party, court records show, the Laines signed bankruptcy papers. "Here I am, going bankrupt," said Laine, "and my daughter's marrying Kobe Bryant."
Bryant's father's qualms about the marriage have been well-reported. Kobe had come to the NBA from high school. Like Vanessa, he held himself apart from peers who misunderstood his discomfort and accused him of snobbery. Like her, he limited close relationships to family."
Bryant would later say he became estranged too, from his family, who had first lived with him, then next-door to him. In recent months, Bryant and his father have said they are reconciled and in frequent contact. But after his marriage, Bryant's parents moved back to Philadelphia; for more than two years, he and his father said, they scarcely communicated.
^
It appears Kobe always kept his family at a distance and thought he was better than everyone else
because he spoke Italian. He had special snowflake c00n syndrome, which manifested itself again in the Trayvon incident. Remember? Given the evidence, maybe it's not so much Vanessa's mother manipulates Kobe, but that he allows them to manipulate him
because he doesn't care enough about his real family. He sounds like a psychopath.