Excerpts: Bryant's Interview With Investigators

Excerpts from NBA star Kobe Bryant's interview with Eagle County sheriff's investigators Doug Winters and Dan Loya the night after a 19-year-old employee of a Vail-area resort told police he had sexually assaulted her. The Vail Daily published a transcript of the interview from an audio recording sent anonymously to the newspaper. The newspaper said it edited the interview to remove profanity and graphic sexual descriptions.

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Bryant: "My bodyguards — I got to, I got to tell them what's going on, my biggest fear is my career and ... "

Winters: "I understand ..."

Bryant: "... my image, so."

Winters: "... very, very much so and we're trying to respect that as much as we can, all right?"

Loya: "And this is how we work, Kobe. We're not, we're not here to destroy your career or your image, but we do have a serious matter at hand that we'd like to resolve and it's all going to depend on your cooperation and how you want to resolve it."

Bryant: "Well. Do I have to?"

Winters: "Well, that's up to you, I mean we'd like to find out your side of the story, we'll get into the details of it, we'll explain what's going on. Um, but that's all we want to do, Kobe."

Loya: "And that's one of the reasons, and that's one of the reasons, this is one of the reasons we're up here at this time of night."

Bryant: "Ask me what, ask me something, ask me anything."

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(Loya had asked Bryant how the woman showed him a tattoo on her back.)

Bryant: "She had like a strap or whatever and she like lowered it. I told her to turn around and she lowered it and she showed me."

Winters: "OK, all right um, did anything happen in the room?"

Bryant: "Like what?"

Loya: "Uh, did you guys hug or kiss?"

Winters: "Kiss or hug?"

Bryant: "No."

Winters: "OK. Um. I'll be blunt and ask you. Did you have sexual intercourse with her?"

Bryant: "No."

Winters: "Yet there is an allegation that it was an unconsensual intercourse that occurred last night, OK. All right. Hang on, OK, hang on, I understand you have every right to be upset, OK, but you know, I'm giving you an opportunity to tell the truth if something did happen, because I'm going to tell you now, um, we're going to find out."

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Bryant: "Is there any way I can settle this whatever it is, I mean ...?"

Winters: "Well, what do you mean by settle?"

Bryant: "If my wife, if my wife found out that anybody made any type of allegations against me she would be infuriated."

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Loya: "Just be straight up, we're not going to tell your wife or anything like that. Did you have sexual intercourse with her?"

Bryant: "Uh, this is what I need to know because uh I did have sexual intercourse with her. Cause I was (inaudible)."

Winters: "And I understand."

Loya: "OK, was it consensual?"

Bryant: "It was totally consensual."

Loya: "What makes you believe, what makes you believe it was consensual?"

Bryant: "'Cause she started kissing me, (inaudible) then she bent over and (inaudible)."

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Loya: "Is this, I don't mean to offend you in any way but is this a habit of yours, that you cheat on your wife?"

Winters: "Has this ever happened before?"

Bryant: "Um, yes, with one other person. And she could actually testify I do that um, I do the same thing, I hold her from the back, I put my hands (inaudible)."

Loya: "And who's that other person?"

Bryant: "Her name is Michelle."

Loya: "And this is somebody you frequent or one time incident or ...?"

Bryant: "No. She's a, she's a frequent (inaudible)."

Loya: "And your wife ..."

Bryant: (Inaudible)

Loya: "Obviously your wife doesn't know about this?"

Bryant:" No. Nothing man, seriously."