Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa files for divorce
Kobe Bryant's wife, who stood at her husband when he was accused of sexual assault in 2003, filed for divorce on Friday with Los Angeles Lakers star, citing irreconcilable differences after ten years of marriage.

Vanessa Bryant signed the papers on December 1st. Kobe Bryant signed his response on December 7, and it was filed Friday, according to documents.

"Bryants decided all matters incident to their divorce in private with a lawyer and judge dissolve their marital status will be introduced in 2012," according to a spokesman for the pair.

In the filing, Vanessa Bryant asked for joint legal and physical custody of two daughters of a couple, Natalie, 8, and Gianna, 5. Kobe Bryant asked the same in his answer. Vanessa Bryant also asked the husband.

Bryants "to ask what the benefit of our young children, and in light of the upcoming holiday season, the public respect our privacy during this difficult time," the statement said.

Bryant met his future wife in 1999 at the video shoot when Vanessa Laine was 18 years old. Six months later, she and then-21-year-old Bryant became engaged. They were married April 18, 2001.

Bryants have been through tough times together.

Vanessa Bryant appeared at a news conference with her husband when he was accused of sexually assaulting 19-year-old woman who worked in an exclusive Lodge & Spa at Cordillera near Vail, Colorado, in 2003. She held his hand and stroked it gently as NBA star admitted he was guilty of adultery - but nothing more. Previously, she released her own statement to the press, promising to support her husband.

"I know that my husband made a mistake - a mistake of adultery," she said in a statement at the time. "He and I will deal with that within our marriage, and we will do it. It is not criminal."

A year later, prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Kobe Bryant, because the woman did not want to go ahead with the court.

Last year, Kobe Bryant and Vanessa have settled litigation with a former maid who accused his wife of NBA star prosecution. Bryants, Maria Jimenez, a counterclaim for breach of a confidentiality agreement by talking to reporters about the family.

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