Vanessa Bryant has paid tribute to husband Kobe Bryant on Mamba Day and told fans ‘life truly isn’t fair’, following his death and the death of their daughter Gianna.
Basketball legend Kobe died aged 41, alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Los Angeles, at the end of January.
The pair are survived by Vanessa and Kobe’s three other daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka, three, and Capri, nine months.
Taking to Instagram, Vanessa paid a heartbreaking tribute to Kobe on Mamba Day – 13 April was declared Mumba Day when Kobe played his final game for the LA Lakers, before retiring from basketball back in 2016.
She shared footage from Kobe’s last game at the Staples Centre and wrote: ‘Mamba Day. My husband worked his ass off for 20 years. Gave it his all. All he wanted was to spend time with our girls and me to make up for lost time.
‘He wanted to be there for every single milestone and special moment in our girls lives. He only got to enjoy 3 years and 9 months of retirement.’
Listing Kobe’s achievements, Vanessa continued: ‘We had 2 more daughters, he won an Oscar, he opened Granity studios, he became a 5x best selling author and coached Gianna’s basketball team in that time. She worked hard and gave her all 7 days a week just like her daddy.’
Kobe and Gianna had been travelling to one of her basketball games when the crash took place. Recalling that day, Vanessa signed off: ‘I wish I could back to that morning, every day. I wish they had a normal local game on 1/26. Life truly isn’t fair. This is just senseless.’
Her tribute to Kobe came after Vanessa had shared new pictures of her daughters as they celebrated Easter for the first time without the sports star and Gigi.
Kobe and Gigi were two of the nine passengers killed in the crash, earlier this year.
Following their deaths, a star-studded memorial was held at the Staples Centre in LA for the pair. Vanessa had spoken at the memorial and broke down in tears as she honoured Kobe and Gigi.
She said of daughter Gigi: ‘Her smile was like sunshine. It took up her entire face like mine. Kobe always said she was me, she had my fire and personality, she was tender and loving on the inside. She had the best laugh. It was infectious, it was pure and genuine.
‘She brightened up my day every day. I miss looking at her beautiful face. She was always so good, I knew I could always count on her to do the right thing.’
Speaking about her ‘soul mate’ Kobe, Vanessa remembered the last text message he had sent her.
‘Before he passed he mentioned that he wanted us to spend more time together,’ she said. ‘We never got the chance to do it. We were busy doing our everyday responsibilities, but I’m thankful I have that recent text. It means so much to me.’
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