Vanessa Bryant celebrated her 38th birthday today (May 5) by reading a letter from her late husband, NBA legend Kobe Bryant.
Vanessa actually found the letter on the day before her birthday, but waited for May 5 to come before reading it. Vanessa explained that it gave her “something to look forward to,” which she desperately needs since it is her first birthday since the untimely passing of Kobe Bryant and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna “Gigi” Bryant.
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Gianna and Kobe Bryant, along with their friends Alyssa, John and Keri Altobelli, Payton and Sarah Chester, Christina Mauser and pilot Ara Zobayan were tragically killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on January 26, 2020. Gianna was 13-years-old and Kobe was 41 when they passed. Kobe is survived by his wife Vanessa and their three remaining daughters, 17-year-old Natalia, 3-year-old Bianka, and 10-month-old Capri Bryant.
On May 5, Vanessa took to Instagram to share her husband’s birthday gift. In the caption, she wrote about how much she missed Kobe and Gianna and that she is grateful to have Natalia, Bianka and Capri with her on her bittersweet birthday.
“Yesterday I found an envelope labeled To: The Love of my Life. From, Tu Papi ❤️I waited to open one more letter on my birthday. It gave me something to look forward to today.❤️The irony is that Kobe had a photo of me drawn with an Angel holding me up by an artist on the cover,” shared Vanessa. “Missing the Love of my Life and my sweet little Mamacita- my fellow Taurus. Grateful to wake up to my 3 sweet girls today. Wish we were all together. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️#MyBirthdayWish.”
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Vanessa Bryant’s birthday tragically comes four days after she had to celebrate what would have been her late daughter Gianna’s 14th birthday without her. She wrote two Instagram posts to honor her daughter. One post was a picture of Gianna, and Vanessa wrote an emotional birthday message to Gianna in the caption. The other post was a picture of red “Mambacita” bracelets and a plea for fans to honor Gianna by wearing red, her favorite color.
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Natalia Bryant also took to Instagram to honor her late sister’s birthday on May 1. She shared a sweet photo of herself and Gianna and wrote in the caption: “Happy 14th Birthday Gigi! ❤️ I miss your smile everyday but I know you’re always smiling down on us from heaven with daddy. I LOVE YOU. 👼.”
