Why Vanessa Bryant Could Face Psych Evaluation

Vanessa Bryant has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in connection to the lawsuit she filed over the leaked photos of the helicopter crash that killed her husband Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna.

The Los Angeles County has ordered the 39-year-old to prove she suffered emotional distress from the leak of the pictures of the January 2020 tragedy by getting an independent medical evaluation on her mental health, court documents obtained by People showed Monday.

The order does not only apply to Bryant. The families of the other helicopter crash victims who are involved in the lawsuit filed against the county were also asked to do the same.

“[The mental evaluations] are not only relevant, but necessary for the County to mount its defense to these claims and to evaluate the existence, extent and nature of Plaintiffs' alleged emotional injuries,” the attorneys for the county said in the court filing, which is still awaiting the approval of the court.

Bryant filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit against L.A. County last year after photos of the helicopter crash site in Calabasas, California, were allegedly “shown off” by county employees and “publicly disseminated” even though she personally asked responders and authorities to protect the area from photographers and designate it as a “no-fly zone.”

In the lawsuit, Bryant and the loved ones of the seven other people who died in the crash are seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages from the county, according to Today.

In the county’s motion that was filed last Friday, the defendants argued that the “severe emotional distress” that Bryant and the other family members involved in the case experienced was caused by the tragedy and not by the circulation of the snaps.

“Plaintiffs cannot claim that they are suffering from ongoing depression, anxiety and severe emotional distress and then balk at having to support their claims,” the county stated, before noting that the psychiatric evaluations will have a critical role in its defense.

Meanwhile, in relation to the case, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has since approved legislation that makes it a crime for first responders and rescuers to take unauthorized photos of people who died at the scene of a crime or an accident, as pointed out by ESPN.