Kobe Bryant’s last Aussie interview shows why NBA star was so loved
Kobe Bryant bonded with Brendan Fevola over something special their families have in common and his candid responses show why the NBA star was so widely respected.
Confidential
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Kobe Bryant and Brendan Fevola found common ground far from their respective sporting fields.
Indeed, the NBA superstar and reformed AFL bad boy were happily resigned to the fact they were fathers, in two respective families, to four daughters. Bryant’s daughters are Natalia, Gianna, Bianka, and Capri. Fevola’s girls are Mia, Leni, Lulu and Tobi.
But in an interview with Fevola during his Mamba Mentality speaking tour last March, Bryant confessed he was powerless, and basically outnumbered, in a family of five women, which included his wife, Vanessa.
“We know there’s pretty much nothing we can say because anytime we say something, we’re basically speaking to ourselves,” Bryant told Fox FM broadcaster Fevola.
‘We’re never right.
You might as well turn around and speak to the wall because nobody is listening to you.”
Sadly, yesterday, the world’s attention was on Kobe, 41, and Gianna, 13, who were among eight people killed in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles.
Bryant spoke proudly and lovingly about his children with Fevola.
“Our eldest daughter (Natalia) plays volleyball. She’s really focused … and volleyball is tough, man. She’s 6 feet (tall), and she enjoys playing.
“Our middle daughter (Gianna) is basketball obsessed. She learned how to play a year and a half ago, she practises everyday … she’s going for it.
“Our little one .. I don’t know what she’s gonna do, but this kid is a little tornado. She doesn’t sit down for anything. You turn your back for one minute and she’s all over here … like, ‘What are you doing?’”
The interview was done before Bryant’s fourth daughter Capri was born.
“Girls are the best, they do run the world, they tell me everyday they’re the boss and we’re just their servants,” Fevola said.
Bryant replied with a beaming smile: “Hey man, that’s a beautiful problem to have, brother.”
Kobe said his Australian tour included a day and a half in Sydney, to which Fevola replied: “That’s enough Melbourne is the place to be, it’s the sporting capital of the world.”
They spoke about Bryant winning an Oscar in 2018 for his animated short film, Dear Basketball.
“It’s a crazy feeling, dude,” Bryant said. “First of all, I’m sitting there, and directly in front of me is (film composer) Hans Zimmer. I’m sitting there like holy s---.
“I’m looking around the room, and there’s all these Oscar winners, multiple Oscar winners – Meryl Streep, everybody – and I’m just happy to be there.”
Fevola asked if Oscar nerves were similar to NBA anxiety.
“No,” Kobe replied. “Basketball is a sport you can control, But in the arts, everything is so subjective, so there’s not much you can do the night of this competition.”
He said it turned surreal when Star Wars actor Mark Hamill announced Bryant as the winner.
“Then Luke Skywalker, of all people, reads your name,” Bryant said laughing.
Bryant said the win made him “more hungry and more driven to create” more films.
Fevola noted: “You win one championship, in AFL, and (commentators say) they’ll get a hangover next year and they won’t perform as well because the hunger is not there. (But) real champions work harder, train harder.”
Kobe agreed: “If you truly love what it is you’re doing, that’s never an issue. There’s some athletes that love playing the games, playing the championships, but don’t really love training, don’t love being at the track at 4 o’clock in the morning when nobody s around.”
Fevola: “It sounds like you’re talking about me.”
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Bryant: “Everyone’s different though. For me, I love the process.”
Bryant said when he first played Dear Basketball to his wife, she wept.
“I hear these sniffles … and I turn around … (to ask) ‘Are you crying?
“That kind of became the general reaction … people were sad. But I wrote it triumphant (way). So I’m like damn, I’m trying to evoke a different kind of emotion and everybody’s crying!”
Bryant’s speaking tour attracted a who’s who of AFL names in the crowd, including Tom Mitchell, Jack Riewoldt, and Patrick Cripps.