Original subtitles

It's always chaos when a team wins a championship.

Pandemonium on the court.

The locker room celebration with champagne

flying all over the place.

It's as close to combat photography

as we sports photographers get, I think.

My job is to, A, find the star player and find the trophy.

But the 2001 championship, I couldn't find either of them.

We just scoured the locker room area.

We ended up back in the shower, and there he was.

He was just lost in himself.

I love my mother.

Father too.

And I love him with all my heart.

Like here he is where he grew up after winning an NBA

championship against Philadelphia, his hometown.

Lower Merion has won.

I told him, your family's going to love you no matter

whether you score 40 or score 0.

A great poignant moment.

Father, Jellybean Joe Bryant.

Son, Kobe.

Embracing.

We still going to love you.

You cannot have a starker contrast than Kobe and his

father in 2000 and Kobe in the locker room stall by himself

in 2001.

They had a shared dream.

This was the moment that they had been planning forever

for their baby son.

He's the guy that I idolized.

And his father's not there to share it with him.

Their relationship would never be the same again.

But he just wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted.

He used that determination to win.

How about those Lakers?

Three peat, baby.

Three peat.

Bang.

Lakers win their 14th NBA championship.

Who you rocking with?

Like a champ. Three-time champ.

You now rocking with the best

Yes, better than the rest

All I do is win

So I tend to say less

Except when I come through the flesh

You now rocking with the best

2002 season.

The Lakers are a juggernaut.

They sweep the series to win a third consecutive championship.

So they were three-peat.

Three-peat.

And what's more left?

Another one?

Absolutely.

That's the only thing that we care about, is winning.

Winning means everything to Kobe Bryant.

There wasn't anything else.

He didn't want to be one of the all time greats.

He wanted to be the best.

I think it confirmed to him that he could now live among some

of the greats.

What up, what up, what up, what up?

We told y'all I was going to go back to back to back.

We told y'all.

LA loves Kobe, man.

Kobe, Kobe, Kobe.

It was this magical moment.

Hey Kobe.

Now you have a different level of fame.

You win the championship, everything

seems to fall into place.

Kobe was still building this future that he'd always wanted

for himself.

I think he saw this reality coming into focus.

I want to continue to play in the NBA and keep winning,

and I want to have my young family beside me.

I remember when the baby was born,

I was so excited, like oh, my God, you're a dad.

And to a girl.

To a girl.

Like oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

It was just beautiful to see how excited he was

and how proud he was.

It was so much love there.

He was like her name is Natalia Diamante, like diamond

or something like.

And I remember going, she's got such a beautiful name.

He's like, well, you know that I'm like European.

For me, it sort of completed him as a person.

Here was this incredibly driven, obsessed individual

that I had met at 18 years old, who's

now a husband and a father.

And I think he had realized that there was more to life

than just basketball 24 hours a day.

It's definitely given me a new perspective.

The pains that I had before, that I actually

have a little girl, they tend to change a little bit.

It was a beautiful thing, man.

Just having those conversations as newly fathers.

Hey, man, what are you going to do with your daughter?

You're going to teach her basketball?

Well, I'm not letting my daughter date this certain guy.

Like we had some crazy conversations, man.

Some that we can't even tell on camera.

Our next guest is a young man who went from teenage sensation

to world champion to family man.

So your perspective changes?

Working hard, playing basketball, man.

You have to-- you come home.

You have to be super husband.

I hear you.

I think he put a lot into the brand of Kobe.

His image was one of teen idol, sweet kid that you want

your daughter to date.

Coming into the league at an early age,

you get a chance to see what's good for you

and what's not good for you, man.

Going to clubs and doing all this stuff,

that's not the important thing, man.

The important thing is finding a woman

that you can spend the rest of your life with, man.

Setting up a family.

That makes me happy, man.

But there was a period where a lot of the people that had been

around were no longer around.

Some of the people that were foundation of Kobe

early on in his career, his dad in particular.

They kept him safe.

They kept him away from some of the things

that you don't want to happen.

How do professional athletes like yourself

cope with the family situation on the road a lot.

A lot of temptations.

How do you deal with that?

As far as temptations?

They don't bother me one bit.

But I love my wife so much.

I respect her so much.

And that's something that I would never consider doing.

I think people really thought, OK, this

is a guy who's going home to his wife and his kid,

and everything is OK.

I've read tons of research about you, Kobe.

And in all this research, you are squeaky clean.

I'm a pretty smart guy.

I can-- I have a spider sense.

I can sniff out trouble before it gets around.

One of the NBA's brightest stars with a squeaky clean image

to boot may soon face a challenge tougher than anything

he's ever seen on the court.

When you come into life and have a high bar dream,

you actually match that dream.

That's a rarity, and rarity, and rarity of life.

Kobe happened to be one of those people.

Charges were filed against Kobe Bean Bryant of Newport

Beach, California.

And he's the one who fucked it up.

The town of Eagle is really small.

A farming and ranching community.

Pretty much a sleepy Little Colorado town.

Cute and small and ill-prepared for what was about to happen

to them.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm Mark Hurlbert.

I'm the district attorney for the Fifth Judicial District.

On July 1st of 2003, I got a call from the Sheriff's Office.

And he said, Mark, we have a case where Kobe Bryant is

accused of sexually assaulting a woman.

Kobe Bryant was arrested on July 4th--

in connection with the alleged assault of a 19-year-old

hotel employee--

in Eagle County, Colorado.

The media descended almost immediately.

Kobe Bryant did cooperate with the investigation and did turn

himself in on July 4th.

It set off alarm bells in the newsroom.

Kobe's been what?

Shock went through my mind.

Like for real?

Kobe Bryant is one of my son's heroes.

I mean, he does have an impeccable reputation.

And the DA has to think about that in making the decision

to charge and prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.

This is not Kobe.

There's no way Kobe would find himself in this position.

He just had a kid.

Things are going well.

This is a marriage he desperately wanted.

He wouldn't throw any of that away for this situation.

The defendant was charged with one count of sexual assault,

a class 3 felony.

At this time, I had been a lawyer for eight years.

I tried some homicide cases and sexual assault cases but nothing

of this magnitude.

If you think about the DA from his perspective,

he doesn't want to lose the biggest case to come his way.

If anything, I think the DA might make sure he has a rock

solid case more than he might require another case because he

knows everyone will be watching this case.

We're treating this case like any other case,

I understand, as I'm saying that,

as I'm looking at about 20 cameras here.

But truly, when you're evaluating whether to file

charges or not, that doesn't come into play.

The media attention from day one,

that was part of the problem.

that rested on some sort of sexual charge.

The types of people who would just stalk and follow some

of the NBA players, that is a reality.

There are studies showing that up to 40% of rape allegations

are false.

People like Wendy keep pushing these 2% number--

Give me the citation, Roy.

You're making a--

Rape has a very high incidence of false allegation.

Give us the citation.

They start speculating that we don't have a case.

I can't comment on what will happen with him and the Lakers.

My job is this.

But ultimately, the only question

was, did I feel he did it?

And did I feel we could prove our case?

I feel that after reviewing the evidence,

after looking at the evidence, that I can prove this case

beyond a reasonable doubt.

I think the average person has no idea whatsoever what actually

took place, and they still don't.

The evening of June 30th 2003.

Our victim is 19 at the time.

She was employed by the Cordillera Resort and Spa

as a front desk person, kind of an upscale resort in Eagle

County, Colorado.

And they get a call that somebody is coming,

and they were a VIP guest.

Eventually, it was disclosed that the reservation was

for Kobe Bryant, who had scheduled a minor knee surgery.

A good friend of hers was also working.

I gave her some courtier stationery with a black marker.

And I said, hey, if you can, get some autographs for us, right?

Who wouldn't?

So she does her job.

She greets Kobe Bryant, shows him to his room.

He kind of pulled her aside and asked her if she would give him

a tour.

And then after that, they went back to the room.

They are sitting and talking.

She was going to leave.

And he asks her for a hug.

And she agrees to give him a hug.

He kisses her, and she's OK with that.

But after the consensual kiss--

he tries to go further, and she objects.

Then he grabs her, puts his hand around her neck,

turns her around.

And she says then, he sexually assaults her.

She's able to gather herself, and she left.

One of the strongest pieces of evidence--

as I looked at my watch at 11 o'clock,

she comes down the stairs.

What's the outcry?

She grabs my arm.

And I kind of flinch back.

Tears started to pour down her face.

And that happened within 10 minutes of the assault.

It was looking into the eyes of someone that was not there.

That was scary.

I said, we need to call the police.

She told me that no one's going to believe me.

The next morning, she makes the police report.

And then that sets off the interview with Kobe.

I'll be blunt and ask you.

Did you have sexual intercourse with her?

And he was asked if he had sexual intercourse

with this woman.

No.

His first answer was no.

But they indicate that they have physical evidence.

If my wife-- if my wife found out that anybody

made any type of allegations against me,

she would be infuriated.

Kobe--

That's all I care about.

And I understand.

What she says, I don't care about.

And I could just hear this fast talking

and like this is somebody just grasping for air.

And he's petrified.

Just be straight up.

We're not going to tell your wife like that.

Did you have sexual intercourse with her?

This is what I need to know, because I did have

sexual intercourse with her.

You're sitting there thinking, what have you gotten

yourself into?

What have you gotten yourself into, Kobe?

Because I'm thinking of this 17-year-old kid I met who is

just sort of a fish out of water.

And now you're in this kind of trouble.

How did this-- how did this happen?

Often with people that have had these traumatic experiences,

details don't come right up front.

But she had the details right up front.

Juxtapose that with what he told law enforcement, which really

kind of backs up what the victim is saying.

Detective Doug Winters.

When you say he was grabbing your butt and chest, was he--

so he was actually doing that?

Woman.

When he took off his pants, that's when I started to back up

and to try to push his hands off of me.

And that's when he started to choke me.

Detective Loya.

So what did you have around her neck?

Mr. Bryant.

I had my right hand like this and my other hand like that.

Woman.

He wasn't choking me enough that I couldn't breathe,

just choking me to the point that I was scared.

Detective Doug Winters.

Are you telling him anything at this point now?

Woman.

At this point, I was just kind of scared,

and I said no a few times.

Detective Doug Winters.

How loud did you say no?

Woman.

About as loud as I'm saying it now.

Detective Doug winters.

Did he hear you?

Woman.

Yes, he did.

Detective Doug Winters.

How did he heard you?

Woman.

Because every time I said no, he tightened his hold around me.

Detective Loya asked, how hard we're you holding her?

Mr. Bryant says I don't know.

My hands are strong, I don't know.

Woman.

And then he would lean his face real close to me

and ask me questions.

Detective Doug Winters.

What would he ask you?

You're not going to tell anybody, right?

I don't know what those conversations were

like with Vanessa.

But I think in the back of his mind, he was thinking about,

what have I done to my wife?

What have I done to my family?

She's like grasping and clutching his hand for

dear life.

No matter what you believed about the case,

it was painful to watch.

Kobe Bryant is innocent of the charges that

were filed against him today.

He had a really good attorney, and that was Pam Mackey.

I am sure that they were very clear as to what he should say.

I'm innocent.

You know?

I didn't force her to do anything against her will.

I'm innocent.

You know-- And I sit here in front of you guys,

furious at myself.

Disgusted at myself for making a mistake of adultery.

I love my wife with all my heart.

She's my backbone.

You're a blessing.

You're the beat in my heart.

You're the air I breathe.

When I saw that, I wasn't getting the I

didn't do anything wrong.

If I could just turn back the hands of time.

I got the I am so scared, and I'm saying this because I have

to say this.

Here he is in the middle of his career.

He had a wife.

He had a baby daughter who was just about five months old.

If he was convicted, he would go to prison for a minimum of four

years for an indeterminate period of time.

The stakes were enormous.

Were you surprised when he admitted to adultery with

a 19-year-old girl?

Yes.

This was not within the character of the man who we have

come to know.

And making a mistake about committing adultery

is far, far different than being accused of rape.

In the court of public opinion, athletes are sometimes

seen as unwitting victims of calculating women.

The tragedy, Chris, is that celebrities are at the mercy

of things like this.

We just think that if we can come and talk to you guys

and have a good time and this and that.

But all of a sudden, just the littlest, just

the littlest things, just the littlest things

can tick anything off, and this is what's going on.

He's a happily married man, and I'm sure he's happy.

He talks about his wife all the time.

So--

I'm going to stand by him and say that it's 100% not true.

The support was crazy.

And you look at the response that the people had towards him.

They loved him even more.

Kobe, Kobe, Kobe.

The flip side to that is she's just a hotel worker.

Come on, it can't be true.

And even if it is true, she's just a hotel worker.

He's still Kobe Bryant.

The Teen Choice Awards was shortly after he was charged.

And the winner is--

Paula Abdul had a lot of enthusiasm given the charges.

Well, as a former Laker girl, I am thrilled to announce

your Choice for Male Athlete.

Kobe Bryant.

Today, we're post #MeToo now.

I can't imagine so soon after a sexual assault allegation

that anyone would be honoring anybody for anything.

It's an honor to be your Choice Male Athlete of the Year.

That audience-- I mean, they are in love with him.

They are like, this is our hero.

It's as though nothing has happened.

Thanks for your support.

Thanks for your prayers.

Thank you.

People are emotionally attached to athletes.

There's a bond that is there.

You know that person.

That person comes into your house,

like he's a part of your family.

You see them over weeks, and weeks,

and weeks on a regular basis.

Kobe. Kobe.

If you looked at his wife and wondered how could she stand

by him like that, well, you're not alone.

Reports say that Bryant gave his wife a $4 million,

eight-carat, purple diamond ring.

You better get your damn hands off me before I break it

like a chopstick.

It was widely parodied.

And I got you another one of these.

Let's go.

Put it on.

It was obvious why he gave her the ring.

But timing, it wasn't a coincidence.

A flawless $10 million diamond the size of a walnut will go

on auction at Sotheby's.

And just in time because Kobe Bryant's wife

has a birthday coming up.

People latched onto it because the only thing people love more

than building up heroes is tearing them down.

Perhaps she's standing by her man because she loves him.

He's the father of her child, and she's hoping that this was

just an indiscretion.

We were outgunned, and we knew that.

At the time, a $4 million ring was double our annual budget

of about $2 million, which funded everything, not just

one case.

There were a lot of power dynamics involved.

Bryant's been staying at his Newport Beach, California

mansion while the young woman at the center of the storm

in Eagle, Colorado will be gone for two weeks

before returning briefly to pack for college.

This woman, who has no experience with the media

whatsoever, is about to face a full court press of the best

PR people, the best lawyers who will uncover anything she has

ever done in her life, and I really feel sorry for her.

A 19-year-old woman.

Some people would refer to her as a girl.

It was kind of like David and Goliath.

Kobe.

It was really the little girl against the big guy.

You know, what's she going to do?

Outside Eagle County Court Media Central.

Makeshift stages for TV reporters

cover a stretch nearly as long as a football field.

30 satellite trucks from around the country.

100 more journalists, technicians, photographers.

Local news, cable news, newspapers, magazines, radio,

sports reporters, and swarms of commentators.

Folks, this is a somewhat extraordinary attention paid

to what I think is an otherwise ordinary process.

Kobe Bryant will not likely utter a word in that courtroom.

No, sir.

And he'll be in there perhaps all of 10 minutes.

It's very OJ-esque, although not nearly as serious as that was.

Looking behind me, we can show you the crowd.

I couldn't hear any boos, so it would appear that a number

of Kobe's fans in the accuser's hometown

did show up to see the superstar.

The media is already pre-trying this case

in the court of public opinion.

The defense was able to bring the media in as part

of their team, whether the media knew it or not.

We're going to hear from the defense about her background,

her mental health, whether she's ever had sex before.

And you know what?

We don't do that to robbery victims.

I wondered if they really had had that conversation with her,

that this is going to be such a uphill battle.

You're going to be the one who's bashed.

He's probably going to get more of the benefit of the doubt.

Hats off to Miss Mackey.

Mr. Bryant would always be next to her.

So he would always have a very small female next to him.

She'd put her arm on him.

As far as Kobe's mother and father, I didn't see them.

For your parents not to go to that--

he was the Boy King.

So I was surprised not to see them at the court.

Normally, preliminary hearings, the prosecution

puts on a witness or two, and that's it.

This was a packed courtroom.

And it was all media, so it became a very different beast.

The preliminary hearing is now underway in the case of

Kobe Bryant.

For the very first time, we are hearing the evidence.

Much of it is very graphic and very harsh.

We want to warn you about that.

The tactics of Mr. Bryant's team was

to throw everything they could at her and break her down.

It had been ruled that we were not to use the victim's name

in open court.

Yet during the preliminary hearing,

Pamela Mackey mentioned the victim's name several times.

She just blurts out the alleged victim's name, the name

that no one is supposed to say.

Again and again.

Not once.

Not twice.

But six times.

She apologized and said, Judge, I'll even write myself a note

to not do that.

We all make mistakes.

Pamela Mackey said that it was a mistake.

But--

On the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth times,

it was knowing and deliberate.

Pamela Mackey is a very skilled lawyer.

Some people say that that was a pressure move.

Very skilled lawyers know what's coming out of their mouth.

When they were going through the injuries that she sustained--

We were shown pictures in the courtroom of the private area

of the woman where there were many lacerations according

to the testimony.

Also a laceration on her jaw.

Nurses said that these injuries were consistent with trauma,

not consistent with consensual sex.

Pamela Mackey said--

Could that have been caused by having sex

with three men over three days?

Absolute bogus question.

Never would come into trial.

I didn't realize they would come out so strong, so quickly.

Nothing but contemptible, disgusting, and it was sleazy.

Shocking.

Nancy, did you say shocking?

I sure did because that violates what everybody knows is the rape

shield law.

The rape shield laws say you can't bring in a victim's

past sexual history.

Whether the victim has had sex before

does not mean they were not raped.

There are exceptions to the rape shield statute.

And if someone else caused her injury, that's an exception.

It was completely inflammatory, and it was untrue.

Pamela Mackey, the defense lawyer,

wanted the alleged victim to know the gloves are off,

this is hardball, and we are coming after you.

That's why rape victims don't come forward.

I as the prosecutor in that case felt like this is just

ridiculous how this case is being handled,

both in the courtroom and outside the courtroom.

In the press, the accuser was portrayed as a troubled party

girl who was desperately seeking attention.

The media can be relentless when it wants to be,

particularly when it's a case like this that's high profile,

that's salacious.

Reports of drug use, suicide attempts,

and her sexual history.

People are tracking her down.

Friends are trying to take pictures of her.

Her and her family experienced serious death threats.

People were prosecuted for that.

They had to move around the country.

And then, almost exactly one year

after Kobe Bryant was arrested, Judge Terry Ruckriegel

made a very big decision in July of 2004.

The judge ruled that her sexual history would be allowed

in a public trial.

A 19-year-old woman getting up in front of all these people

to talk about her sex life.

It is incredibly invasive, and it is incredibly traumatizing.

I believe-- I don't have to believe.

I know that they just lost faith.

They just lost faith in the system.

She's one of the strongest women I know.

She's fantastic.

going through right now?

What isn't she going through?

She's hurt.

She's been violated.

I probably couldn't put words to what she's going through.

This person that was resolute at the beginning,

this person that was ready to go through anything,

it just wore her down.

I don't think any of us can have any idea of the impact that this

had on that 19-year-old girl.

Kobe Bryant stands in front of a judge

and enters a plea in the sexual assault case against him.

Do you understand that charge?

Yes, sir.

How do you plead?

Not guilty or guilty?

Not guilty.

The proceeding simply starts the countdown to trial.

The trial was set in August because it had to be tried

within six months of his not guilty plea.

The question only grows.

Will Kobe Bryant remain a star in a City of Stars?

Inside the courthouse, Kobe Bryant looking very serious.

When you're on trial for rape, he didn't really react one way

or the other.

Maybe you don't feel like you're Kobe Bryant.

He kind of fidgeted in his seat.

He had his hands collapsed in front of him.

The fear that he had to have felt--

Very studious, trying to listen to everything.

That he may be the one to self-sabotage everything

he's worked for, everything he's ever wanted.

Like I did this to myself.

You're not worried about reclaiming the NBA title.

Me.

You're worried about staying out of prison for life.

That has to be eating away at you.

The scene of Kobe Bryant coming back from Eagle, Colorado.

Entering the arena.

The crowd gave him a standing ovation

when he entered the building.

To play a game for the Lakers against the Denver Nuggets.

To say it stirs up complex emotions I don't think quite

goes far enough.

I don't know how he did that.

I don't know, man.

I don't know if I have that in me.

I really don't.

To leave a courtroom, the game has already started.

The Lakers win.

And hits the game-winner?

After listening and going through this--

you just-- yo, man.

You wired differently.

A long, very trying day for one Kobe Bryant

just ended as sweetly as it possibly could.

You hear the announcers softpedaling the nature of what

kept him away from the basketball court.

What a way to end Kobe's day.

They're framing it in a way that makes it seem as if this is

another piece of adversity for him to overcome,

instead of a situation in which he is alleged to have done

a reprehensible thing.

That's a really tricky dance.

The NBA's position was we're going to let things play out

in the legal system, and then we'll

take the appropriate action.

I would go to the games during the middle of the case.

The crowds were still yelling Kobe, Kobe, Kobe.

He was their star.

This is truly a wonderful, great day in Los Angeles

Laker history.

I'm here today to announce the signing of Kobe Bryant

to a long term contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.

So they had no problem signing him to a $100 and something

million contract, seven years.

I mean, if they had any reservation about him being

convicted and going to jail, do you

think for a moment they would have given him that contract?

No.

If there's any risk there, it's certainly a risk

that we were willing to take.

For Kobe, that had to be a big relief.

It feels great to be here in the city of Los Angeles,

playing for the Lakers for the next seven years.

He had the right people behind him, this major organization--

It was unbelievable.

that's going to slay whatever dragons they have to make

sure this Laker team will have Kobe as a player.

We are in the middle of jury selection, and--

We're beginning with some breaking news out of the Kobe

Bryant case tonight.

The victim gives me a call.

Mark, I don't want to do this anymore.

Today, I have reluctantly made the difficult decision

to dismiss the case of People versus Kobe Bryant.

She even apologized and said, I know you've spent a lot of time

and effort on this.

A trial can be very traumatic and even more

so with the victim of a sexual assault whose victimization has

been subject to worldwide scrutiny.

She had been so beat up for so long that she had just reached

her breaking point and had had enough.

She was very courageous for a very, very long time,

and I totally respect that.

Today, justice is sadly interrupted.

And the casualty in this interruption

has been a brave young woman who was grievously hurt.

The long range effects of this have been many.

In Eagle County specifically, victims stopped reporting

sexual assault. Our numbers dropped significantly.

Criminally, he was never found guilty in a court of law.

If you don't have a public trial,

people can ignore it then.

It was just an allegation.

And it goes back to, unfortunately, our desire

to have people that we can look up to and say are practically

heroes for being a really good basketball player.

I think it's a big relief for Laker fans.

Now they can get to business, concentrate on next year.

They got their guy.

He's set.

I'm very excited for Kobe.

I'm happy for him.

I'm glad that it's finally behind him.

Maybe if he hadn't gone through all the pressure,

maybe they would have brought home the trophy.

The criminal charges cannot be refiled against Bryant.

However, his legal troubles are far from over.

Civil suit was filed by the alleged victim that was settled.

Meanwhile, Bryant issued an apology to her.

First, I want to apologize directly to the young woman

involved in this incident.

I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night

and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year.

Although this year has been incredibly difficult for me

personally, I can only imagine the pain she has had to endure.

Although I truly believe this encounter between us

was consensual, I recognize now--

I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident

the same way I did.

After months of reviewing discovery, listening

to her attorney and even her testimony in person,

I now understand how she feels that she did not consent.

How she feels that she did not consent to this encounter.

It's been a long time since I heard those words.

Wow.

At that time, you would never get a statement like that.

It was always, I never did it.

The victim was lying.

I've now been vindicated.

But this one was very different.

Maybe it was naive of me, but I certainly thought, hey, maybe--

maybe there is a change in this person,

that he doesn't hurt another person.

Do I think justice prevailed in this case?

Absolutely not.

At the time, I was just angry and probably

had some expletives.

It's well crafted.

I mean, yeah.

I think he knows what he did.

Should we all forgive him for what he did?

That's up to you and your God.

I think Kobe just grew up really quickly during the hearings.

I think he realized at that point

that he was not invincible.

There was an intensity about Kobe that

was unusual and unrelenting.

He had a film called Muse.

Had all this pent up frustration that I just needed to let out.

And he expresses that anger.

Darker emotions.

The frustration.

Anger, resentment, sadness.

All the things that were swirling through him as he

went through the sexual assault case.

I wish he had expressed the regret.

Using that as a weapon.

There was so much dark energy.

So Kobe and I connected in August of 2003 to help

build the alter ego, to make sure that when he goes back out

on the court, that could be the world that he could control.

Because he could not control anything

that was happening off of the court.

So I get the phone call from Kobe.

And his first words were, I got it.

I was watching Kill Bill.

And there was this one scene where an assassin has.

I'd like to introduce my friend, the black mamba.

A black mamba snake.

He spoke to me.

The length of the snake, the accuracy of the snake,

the temperament.

The black mamba snake is used as the assassin.

Only with the mamba is death sure.

When I step on the court, that's me.

I don't play around.

I'm not there to be your best friend.

I am there to destroy you.

Hence its handle, death incarnate.

Pretty cool, huh?

I want to put fear in people the way

the black mamba does when they see it.

That's when the switch was flicked in.

The Black Mamba was born.

The Black Mamba alter ego got him through probably

the darkest time of his life and then became just

part of his aura.

Post Mamba Kobe had a lot to do with him learning how to use

hate to become his power.

Because nobody had rage like him.

Nobody.

He was like a dragon coming through.

The angrier he gets, the more he's going to douse you.

There's a lot of stuff that happened to this guy

once he embraced hate, and the Mamba just showed up.

To me, the greatest was the 62-point game against Dallas.

At the end of the third quarter, he had 62.

The Dallas Mavericks had 61.

One man outscoring an entire team.

The next month, he did 81.

He came back with that.

In 2008, he is the leader of The Redeem Team

that recaptures the gold medal for the United States.

Incredible feeling.

We've been waiting for this for a while.

USA is back on top.

This is what it's all about.

He won his first championship without Shaq

once he became the Mamba.

He won his second championship without Shaq

once he became the Mamba.

He finally won an MVP once he became the Mamba.

At that point, he is so far and away the best basketball player

on the planet.

And then his second daughter, Gianna, is born in early 2006.

You could see, there was this Kobe Bryant in there that was

different from the Black Mamba.

Like the black mamba snake, he would sort of

shed that and become Kobe the person, Kobe the dad,

Kobe the father.

I remember Natalia and Gigi in little Laker girl outfit.

It was so cute.

I think every time they had a child, that was another version

of Vanessa entering into the world.

And I think he was hellbent on making sure that the pain he

brought to Vanessa, that pain from him

would never, ever, ever hit his daughters.

I think after Colorado, he was really, really concerned

about what this incident, which was never going to disappear,

was going to do to his kids, and how he was going to restore

his legacy, and how he was going to make this up to his family.

Kobe Bryant did not invent girldad.

He just perfected it.

It just felt like the future was limitless for him.

Then in a heartbeat, it all stops in the most horrific

way imaginable.

The first half of his career is like people was attacking

his character.

The end of it is like people was loving this guy.

Because we watched how he had transformed once

he stopped playing basketball.

My little 11-year-old Gianna goes, well, dad, you always tell

us to go after our dreams.

Fatherhood meant everything to Kobe's life.

And there was something about this man that said his life is

just beginning.

And then all of a sudden--

A helicopter crashed into a mountain.