Vanessa Bryant is joining her daughter, Natalia Bryant, in celebrating the young adult’s nineteenth birthday. The wife of the late Kobe Bryant took to Instagram on Wednesday (Jan. 19) to commemorate her oldest daughter’s “Golden” birthday ahead of the second anniversary of Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s death.
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“Happy 19th Birthday @nataliabryant,” Vanessa exclaimed in a social media post. “It’s your GOLDEN birthday,” the celebrity mom continued. “We love you SO much.”
Natalia’s nineteenth birthday comes at a time when Lakers Nation is gearing up to reflect on the legacies of Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant. The celebrity father and his teen daughter were killed in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020. Kobe, Gianna, and seven others on the flight were headed to a basketball game at the Mamba Sports Academy. Vanessa Bryant held a memorial ceremony for her late husband and daughter one month after their deaths.
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“Gigi was very sweet,” Vanessa said of her daughter at the memorial ceremony. “She always made sure everybody was okay and she was our shepherd,” Bryant added. “She always kept our family together. She loved family traditions, and family movie night was important to her. She always looked out for everyone. She was very much in tune with our feelings and wanted the best for us.”
Vanessa Bryant also gave a heartfelt speech about her late husband that brought everyone to tears at the memorial. “He is not going to be able to walk our girls down the aisle or spin me around on the dance floor, singing PYT to me. But I want my daughters to know and remember the amazing person, husband and father he was,” Vanessa said of Kobe Bryant. “The kind of man that wanted to teach future generations to be better and keep them from making his own mistakes.”
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Kobe and Vanessa Bryant parented four kids – Natalia, Gianna, Capri, and Bianka – before his and Gigi’s untimely passing. The celebrity father and his daughter’s legacies live on through the Mamba/Mambacita Sports Academy.
Photo: Vanessa Bryant/Instagram
