TMZ has been covering photos of Kobe Bryant partying it up with the ladies in Barcelona prior to his Olympics gig as part of the USA basketball team. (The next match, USA vs. Tunisia, happens tonight at 5:15 EST. No offense to Tunisia, but I expect Kobe & co. to win. They beat the French team on Sunday, which had 6 NBA players.) TMZ has a photo of Kobe looking cozy with one woman, and another in which he’s shirtless and sitting on a window ledge with two other women. TMZ claims Kobe is shirtless because someone spilled a full drink on his shirt and he just had to take it off, yeah right.

Anyway I didn’t see the big deal with those photos, because I honestly forgot that Kobe had reunited with his wife Vanessa, after she filed for divorce and got half his considerable assets including all his houses. Vanessa decided to withdraw divorce papers after Kobe launched a forgiveness plea that included expensive jewelry, as is typical for him. Well Vanessa is said to be pissed off at Kobe over these photos, and not because he was hanging out shirtless with young women, but because someone took his picture doing it. Isn’t this the exact relationship dynamic that everyone said they had? Vanessa doesn’t mind if Kobe doesn’t keep it in his pants, as long as no one hears about it. Here’s more, thanks to TMZ:

Kobe Bryant’s wife has some serious questions about his judgment after seeing pics of him partying with women last week — but that didn’t stop her from flying to London to watch him play in the Olympics.

Sources close to Vanessa Bryant tell us she is “furious” and “embarrassed” over the photos — one of Kobe chatting up 2 women at an afterparty last week in Barcelona … the other showed him hanging with 2 different women in a nightclub.

But we’re told Vanessa’s anger is NOT because she thinks Kobe cheated … instead she’s mad that he put himself in situations where the photos could be taken.

As we previously reported … a source close to Kobe says someone had spilled a drink on him, and he was only briefly shirtless — while he sent for a cleaner, dryer shirt.

We’re told Vanessa had planned to go to London — and seeing the pics didn’t change her mind. She flew to London over the weekend with their 2 daughters.

We’re told Vanessa feels things have been going well with Kobe since she passed on filing final divorce docs last month.

[From TMZ]

So Kobe was partying with his teammates and there just happened to be a lot of hot young women around, and none of his teammates in sight. He just happened to be photographed giving one woman an “autograph.” He just happened to get a drink spilled on his shirt, leaving him no other option than to hang around shirtless. It’s just part of his job, right? Does Vanessa buy this, or does she buy it in exchange for a lot of very expensive, shiny things?

Vanessa was recently spotted in London, where she’s arrived to watch her husband compete. She of course also went shopping for designer goods.

Vanessa is shown with her daughters on 6-18-12 and 7-12-12. She’s shown with Kobe on 9-7-11 and 2-19-11. Credit: WENN.com