In his new memoir "One Helluva Ride," Michael Douglas writes that Kobe Bryant frequently stopped by Catherine Zeta-Jones's Pacific Palisades home in the late 1990s, before Bryant met his future wife Vanessa and before Douglas and Zeta-Jones married. Douglas recalls Bryant repeatedly claiming he had lost his dog as a reason to visit.
Actor Michael Douglas has written in his new memoir that NBA star Kobe Bryant repeatedly visited the Pacific Palisades home of Catherine Zeta-Jones, now his wife, during the late 1990s, before Bryant met Vanessa Laine and before Douglas and Zeta-Jones were married.
What Douglas wrote
In the memoir, titled "One Helluva Ride," Douglas describes Zeta-Jones's California property as sitting just below a home owned by Bryant, who was then a young Los Angeles Lakers player nine years her junior. According to Douglas, Bryant repeatedly made excuses to stop by Catherine's house.
I'm not sure how many times he 'lost his dog,' but it was a lot!
— Michael Douglas, in his memoir "One Helluva Ride"
Timing of the events
Douglas and Zeta-Jones met in France in 1998 and conducted a long-distance relationship afterward, with Douglas based in New York and Zeta-Jones living in Pacific Palisades. The couple became engaged on New Year's Eve 1999 and married in November 2000.
At the time of Bryant's visits described by Douglas, Bryant had not yet met Vanessa Laine. Reports on the memoir state Bryant proposed to Laine in 2000, and the two later married in 2001.
Zeta-Jones's own account
Catherine Zeta-Jones gave her own version of how she came to know Bryant as a neighbor in a public tribute she wrote after his death in a 2020 helicopter crash. She said their first encounter came because of his dog wandering onto her property.
In that tribute, Zeta-Jones wrote that she and Bryant first met on the day he moved in, after his dog repeatedly wandered into her garden.
She also recalled being able to see Bryant practicing on a private basketball court visible from her home, according to reporting on her remarks.
Why it is in the news
The anecdote resurfaced with the release of Douglas's memoir, prompting renewed coverage of the neighborly relationship between the Douglas-Zeta-Jones household and Bryant before either side's now well-known marriages.
Questions
Did Kobe Bryant and Catherine Zeta-Jones date?
No account from Douglas's memoir or Zeta-Jones's own public remarks describes a romantic relationship; both describe Bryant as a neighbor who visited frequently, often citing his dog as a reason.
When did Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones get married?
They became engaged on New Year's Eve 1999 and married in November 2000, after meeting in France in 1998.
When did Kobe Bryant meet his wife Vanessa?
According to coverage of Douglas's memoir, Bryant had not yet met Vanessa Laine during the period of the visits described; he later proposed to her in 2000 and married her in 2001.
What is the source of this story?
The claim comes from Michael Douglas's memoir "One Helluva Ride," with Catherine Zeta-Jones's 2020 public tribute to Bryant providing her own corroborating account of how they became neighbors.
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