PHOTOS: Happy Anniversary Kobe And Vanessa Bryant..10years

In late 1999, when he was 21, Bryant met his future wife. Vanessa Laine, 16, aspiring model and high-school sophomore, was working as a background dancer in a Snoop Dogg video that was shooting at the same studio where Bryant was trying to film his own rap video. (For a brief moment, Bryant wanted a future as a rap star.) The two clicked immediately. “He was into her,” recalls Snoop.
Soon, Bryant was picking up Laine at school in his black Mercedes and dropping her off in the mornings. (The teenager was living with her stepgrandfather at the time and had lots of freedom.) When TV news crews got wind of the romance, they regularly began flying helicopters over the Marina High campus in Huntington Beach, Calif., to get shots of the couple. The courtship caused such a stir that school authorities banned Bryant from coming near campus or attending any school events with her. Marina High officials declined to discuss the matter. “It just set this bad example for the school and the kids, but Kobe didn’t understand what the

message was when he dropped her off early in the morning,” says his friend Tonahill

http://www.newsweek.com/2003/10/12/kobe-off-the-court.html

Kobe’s costar: Vanessa Laine was just another sheltered teenager in Orange County. Then she fell in love with a phenomen – MajorWager Forums

Engaged while she was still in high school, her beautiful engagement ring is 7 carats in size, and valued at well over $100,000. Kobe and Vanessa were married on April 18, 2001 in Dana Point, California at the now famous St. Edward Roman Catholic Church.