Vanessa Bryant has paid tribute to her late daughter Gianna on what would have been her 14th birthday.
Gianna Bryant via Vanessa Bryant's Instagram (c)
Gianna tragically passed away in January alongside her father Kobe Bryant and seven other people, when the NBA star's helicopter crashed in Calabasas, California.
And to mark Gianna's 14th birthday on Friday (01.05.20), her mother Vanessa - who also has Natalia, 17, Bianka, three, and Capri, nine months, with Kobe - took to Instagram to post a sweet tribute in her memory.
She wrote alongside a picture of Gianna: "Happy 14th Birthday to my sweet baby girl, Gianna. Mommy loves you more than I can ever show you. You are part of MY SOUL forever. I miss you so much everyday. I wish I could wake up and have you here with me. I miss your smile, your hugs and your giggles. I miss EVERYTHING about YOU, Gigi. I LOVE YOU so much!!!!!!! (sic)"
Last month, Vanessa commented on the "senseless" death of Kobe and Gianna as she marked four years since the Los Angeles Lakers star retired from his basketball career.
She wrote: "Mamba Day
"My husband worked his a** 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. 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. 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. (sic)"
Kobe will be posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame later this year, and Vanessa couldn't be more proud of his accomplishments.
She said: "It's an incredible accomplishment and honor and we're extremely proud of him. Obviously we wish that he was here with us to celebrate but it's definitely the peak of his NBA career. Every accomplishment that he had as an athlete was a stepping stone to be here. We're incredibly proud of him. There's some solace in knowing that he was probably going to be a part of the 2020 Hall of Fame class."
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