They say big men don't cry. But they didn't say it last week--not if they watched Kobe Bryant speak publicly with a moist remorse that was almost Clintonian. The NBA's youngest-ever All-Star acknowledged having committed adultery. "I love my wife with all my heart. She's my backbone," he told reporters at the Staples Center, home of Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers. A tear scarred his cheek as he grasped the hand of his giga-gorgeous wife Vanessa and said, "You're a blessing. You're a piece of my heart. You're the air I breathe. You're the strongest person I know. And I'm so sorry for having to put you through this and having to put our family through this."
This is an indictment that he sexually assaulted a 19-year-old college student and employee of the Lodge and Spa at Cordillera in Edwards, Colo., while he was staying there for knee surgery. The complaint, brought by Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert, reads that Bryant "unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly inflicted sexual intrusion or sexual penetration on" his accuser, whose name was withheld by police and the press.
On June 30, Bryant left L.A. for a tendinitis operation that was to be performed the next day at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Vail, the town of plutocrat-posh ski-resort fame. Bryant and his entourage checked in to the Lodge and Spa. Around 11 that night, his accuser, a concierge and receptionist at the hotel, went off duty. According to the Los Angeles Times, Bryant called his wife from his hotel room at 11:13. Some time later, perhaps around 11:30, the young woman visited Bryant's room. Why she went there, and what happened next, is for a jury to decide.
The next morning, Bryant had his surgery. At noon the young woman, accompanied by her parents, told the Eagle County sheriff's department that she had been assaulted. She went to Vail Valley Medical Center for tests. At 11:30 that night, some 24 hours after the alleged incident, investigators from the sheriff's office quizzed Bryant in his room and collected evidence. Hours later, technicians at Valley View Hospital took samples of Bryant's DNA.
Bryant fiercely denies the rape charge, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. He acknowledges that sex took place but insists it was consensual. "I didn't force her to do anything against her will," he said. "I'm innocent."
Another star athlete charged with sexual malice? Such an item is usually confined to that burgeoning beat, the sports-page police blotter. Kobe Bryant makes it front-page news--not simply because he and Shaquille O'Neal are the Guts and Godzilla of the star-studded Lakers, not because he scored 30 points a game last season or because he went straight from high school legend to NBA phenom. Not even because he recently inked a $45 million endorsement deal with Nike. But because he is one of the NBA's prime icons of clean and keen.
With handsome features and a name that sounds like a Pokemon toy, Bryant has the rep of a star a prim mother or an innocent kid could love. "For teenage girls especially," says Peter Zollo of the polling firm Teen Research Unlimited, "Kobe is way up there. Where Allen Iverson's been the bad boy, Kobe has been the pretty boy."