In the era of COVID-19, dancing on TikTok has become especially popular, and Natalia and Vanessa Bryant, the daughter and wife of late NBA great Kobe Bryant, are no strangers to it.
17-year-old Natalia Bryant recently posted to her Instagram a video of herself, her mother, and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu taking on the “Darling, Twerk for Me” TikTok challenge. The trio waved their arms around, turned to the left, and twerked before they stopped and started laughing as 1-year-old Capri Bryant, Vanessa’s youngest child, looked on. Natalia captioned the post: “It’s the making my mom laugh for me ♥️ #itstheruffleskirtforme.”
That isn’t the only TikTok challenge Natalia has done. She released another Instagram video of herself and Sabrina dancing with Capri and 3-year-old Bianka Bryant to the “Fishing Pole, Reel It In” TikTok challenge. She captioned the post: “✨our Friday ✨.” Fans gushed over the videos, happy to see the Bryant family having some fun after such a tough year.
Sabrina Ionescu, the No. 1 2020 WNBA Draft pick who plays for the New York Liberty, was mentored by Kobe Bryant during her time at Oregon, and she even trained with Kobe’s late daughter, 13-year-old Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, who aspired to play in the WNBA someday. Since Kobe and Gianna’s untimely deaths, Sabrina has been close to the Bryant family and has spent plenty of time with them. Sabrina even spoke at Kobe’s public memorial service on February 24. “If I represented the present of the women’s game, Gigi represented the future, and Kobe knew it,” said Sabrina.
Natalia’s videos come nine months after Kobe and Gianna Bryant, along with Alyssa, John and Keri Altobelli, Payton and Sarah Chester, Christina Mauser, and pilot Ara Zobayan were tragically killed in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020. Gianna was 13 and Kobe was 41 when they passed and they are survived by Vanessa and daughters Natalia, Bianka, and Capri Bryant.
