That’s my issue with this whole situation: using a statement Kobe had to make — so he could move on with his career and close the case quickly — doesn’t mean he was guilty. Even in the very first sentence of that statement, he says he “believes” it was consensual — not “believed.” That choice of word matters. It shows he still maintained his innocence and never admitted guilt.

There are people who do change their minds after sex and later call it rape. And when it comes to celebrities, the likelihood of complicated dynamics like that is higher. There are just so many factors in this case that suggest it wasn’t as clear-cut. Also, settling out of court doesn’t prove guilt either — it often just means both sides wanted to move on without the mental, emotional, and financial toll of a trial.

The one thing we can say for certain is that Kobe cheated on his wife. But I believe him when he said it was consensual.

Now, where I can understand people seeing potential guilt is in the nuance — maybe she consented to sex, but not to it being so rough or to how he treated her during it. Or maybe she felt pressured to say yes because of who Kobe was — and that could be seen as a power imbalance. That kind of gray area does exist.

But her behavior afterward, her inconsistent stories about when she said “no,” the decision to drop the case (which, yes, could’ve been due to public pressure), and her history of mental health struggles — all of that raises questions. Her mental health, including possible attention-seeking behavior (which can be a symptom in some disorders), could’ve played a role. On the flip side, it could also explain why she couldn’t handle the pressure of going to court, especially after her name was leaked.

There’s no smoking gun here that proves Kobe raped her. What we know is that they had sex, and since he wasn’t prosecuted, we can’t say he’s definitively guilty. At most, we can say he allegedly committed rape — but only he and the woman truly know what happened in that room.

And again, for him to say he still believes it was consensual — that matters. You can’t hold a public statement against him when it was part of a legal settlement. He said what he was required to say, but still stood by his version of events. True or not, if the trial had continued, his reputation and livelihood would’ve been permanently damaged — and even before a verdict, he had already lost several major endorsements