Who is Pamela Bryant (Kobe Bryant’s Mother) Bio, Age, Husband, Son’s Death

Pamela Bryant Biography

Pamela Bryant (full name: Pamela Cox Bryant) is an American socialite best known as the mother of the late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. She is also the wife of former NBA player Joe Bryant.

Pamela has had a strained relationship with his late son, Kobe and it is also not known whether the two had been able to reconcile prior to Kobe’s tragic death on 26th January 2020. Kobe tragically died in a helicopter accident in Calabasas, California alongside his daughter Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant and seven others.

How Old is Pamela Bryant?

Pam keeps her personal life very private and hence very hard to know her age. It is also not known when she celebrates her birthday.

Pamela Bryant Family

She is the sister of former NBA player Chubby Cox. Little is known about Pam Cox’s family background since she keeps her personal life very private.

Pamela Bryant Husband

A photo of Pamela Bryant
A photo of Pamela Bryant

Pam got married to basketball player Joe Byrant in 1975. The couple bore an only son and one of the greatest NBA players of all time, Kobe Byrant, and their two daughters Sharia and Shaya Bryant. Pam is also the aunt of professional basketball player John Cox IV.

She is the mother-in-law to Kobe’s wife Vanessa Laine  and a grandmother to their four daughters, Natalia Diamante Bryant, Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, Bianka Bella Bryant, and Capri Kobe Bryant

Pamela Bryant Son

Pam and her son Kobe have had a strained relationship since she was also opposed to his marriage due to a number of reasons. Pam, her husband Joe, their two daughters, Kobe’s longtime advisor and agent Arn Tellem, and his Lakers teammates did not attend Kobe’s wedding. Joe and Pam had problems with him marrying so young, especially to a woman who was not African-American. Their disagreement resulted in an estrangement period of over two years, which ended when Kobe’s first daughter was born.

The birth of Kobe’s first daughter Natalia resulted in a reconciliation between Bryant and his parents. Later in 2013, Pam had a legal disagreement with an auction house over memorabilia from Kobe’s early years that Pam intended to auction. She received $450,000 from the auction house for the items and claimed Bryant had given her the rights to the items he had remaining in her home. However, Kobe’s lawyers asked the auction house to return the items to Bryant. Before a scheduled trial, Pamela and Joe apologized to Kobe in a written statement, also acknowledging the financial support Bryant had provided them in the past.

Kobe Bryant and Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant’s Death

On January 26, 2020, a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter departed from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California at 9:06 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. On board were Kobe Byrant, his 13-year old daughter Gianna, six family friends and the pilot. The eight were traveling to a practice session at Bryant’s Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks.

There was light rain and foggy weather that morning, the LAPD helicopters and most other air traffic were grounded. According to the flight tracker, the helicopter experienced issues above the L.A. Zoo and circled the area six times at an altitude of around 850 feet(260m).

At around 9:30 a.m., the pilot who was named Ara Zobayan contacted the Burbank Airport’s control tower. He notified the tower of the situation and was told he was “flying too low” to be tracked by radar. During that time, the helicopter experienced extreme fog and turned south towards the mountains. The helicopter climbed rapidly at 9:40 a.m. It moved from 1,200 to 2,000 feet (370 to 610 m) flying at 161 knots (298 km/h; 185 mph).

The helicopter crashed into the side of a mountain in Calabasas, about 30 miles (48 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and caught on fire at 9:45 a.m. Kobe Bryant, Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, Alyssa Altobelli, Christina Mauser, Sarah Chester, Payton Chester, and the pilot Ara Zobayan were killed instantly.

Pamela Bryant Net Worth

Though Pamela has a big fortune in her name, the exact amount is not yet revealed. Her net worth is still under review.