Vanessa Bryant grieves for Kobe and Gianna on Mamba Day, anniversary of his last game in the NBA: 'Life truly isn't fair'
Vanessa Bryant remembered her late husband Kobe and their 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, on Monday, the anniversary of the former Los Angeles Lakers star’s final NBA game before retiring.
The heartbreaking tribute came two-and-a-half-months after Kobe and Gianna (known as Gigi) died when the helicopter they were taking to his Mamba Sports Academy crashed in Calabasas, Calif. They were part of a group going to a basketball game in which Gigi was going to play and Kobe was going to coach; all nine people on board were killed.
In her latest post, Vanessa shared a five-minute video that featured highlights of her husband on the court on his retirement day, April 13, 2016, both in action and addressing the crowd. She lamented in the caption that Kobe ended up having such little time left after retiring to spend with her, Gigi and the couple’s three other daughters.
After Kobe’s departure from professional basketball, his widow noted, the couple had two more daughters. (They had four daughters in all: Gigi, plus 17-year-old Natalia; Bianka, 3; and Capri, 9 months.) He won an Oscar when his 2018 film Dear Basketball was named Best Animated Short. Bryant established multimedia content company Granity Studios and became a bestselling author. Most importantly, he was coaching Gigi’s basketball team.
Vanessa recalled that Gigi was someone who “worked hard and gave her all seven days a week just like her daddy.”
She added, “I wish I could back to that morning, every day. I wish they had a normal local game on 1/26 [the day of their fatal crash]. Life truly isn’t fair. This is just senseless.”
On Sunday, Vanessa and daughters Natalia, Bianka and Capri managed to have some happy moments, even as they celebrated their first Easter without Kobe and Gigi.
Vanessa’s famous friends, including Gabrielle Union, Kelly Rowland, Ciara and Olivia Munn, showed support for the family’s holiday snapshots. It’s one of many sweet tributes she’s made to them since her loss.
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