Getty Vanessa Bryant
On the two month anniversary of Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant’s death, Vanessa Bryant shared a video of the two of them playing basketball on her Instagram page. She captioned the post with merely two broken heart emojis.
In the video, Kobe, 41, talks about how their daughter Gigi, 13 started out playing soccer, which is one of her father’s favorite sports as well. “But when she asked about learning the game of basketball,” Kobe says. “I started teaching her piece by piece and she started enjoying and loving it. Now, she plays every day and it’s been a joy to watch her grow and just be there every day for that process.
“Her temperament is just like mine,” Kobe admits. She’s extremely competitive and very fiery. She backs down from no challenge. She’s a good mix of me and a good mix of her mama, so that makes her even more competitive than I am.”
It’s hard to believe it’s been two months since Kobe and Gigi’s tragic helicopter crash, which claimed seven other lives including the pilot Ara Zobayan, 50, Sarah Chester, 46, Payton Chester, 13, John Altobelli, 57, Keri Altobelli, 36, Alyssa Altobelli, 14, and Christina Mauser, 38.
Amid the pandemic outbreak of coronavirus, it’s also hard to believe it’s only been a month since Vanessa Bryan so eloquently spoke at the sold-out memorial service held at the Staples Center on February 24 – an event filled with over 20,000 attendees including Michael Jordon, Shaquille O’Neil, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Jimmy Kimmel, and more showed up to pay their respects to Black Mamba.
Vanessa and Kobe’s three children, Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and Capri, 8 months, were in attendance, as well as her mother, Sofia Laine, sister Sophie Laine, and Kobe’s two older sisters, Shaya and Sharia Bryant, with whom she remains close.
Vanessa Bryant Continues To Mourn The Loss Of Her Husband & Daughter
Throughout the past two months, Vanessa has shared tributes to Kobe and Gigi on Instagram, sharing with her fans the ups and downs she has while trying to move forward, and remaining strong for Natalia, Bianka, and Capri. Prior to the “Celebration of Life” memorial, Vanessa held a private funeral service with just family on February 7, at Pacific View Mortuary, which is located in Corona Del Mar, California.
A week ago, Vanessa shared an adorable photo of Bianka hanging out with Aunt Sharia, and they both had two huge smiles on their faces.
Looking out for her youngest daughter, Vanessa recently filed documents to include Capri in Kobe’s trust, according to documents obtained by TMZ. While Kobe’s trust was last amended in 2017, Capri was born only nine months ago, and at the time, there was no reason for them to rush and change the trust’s beneficiaries.
On the same day as Kobe and Gigi’s memorial service, Vanessa filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Island Express Helicopters, which owned and operated the helicopter that crashed on January 26. The lawsuit claims that the pilot was “negligent,” flying 180 miles per hour in a “heavy fog,” and is seeking “punitive damages” for the wrongful deaths of all the passengers on board.
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