Vanessa Bryant has paid tribute to her late husband Kobe, three years on from his death.
Vanessa Bryant remembers her late husband Kobe (C) Vanessa Bryant/Instagram
The 40-year-old businesswoman was married to basketball player Kobe - who was killed in a helicopter crash in 2020 along with their `13-year-old daughter Gigi - and took so social media on Valentine's Day (14.02.23) to declare that she will "always" love him.
Alongside a throwback snap of herself and Kobe, she wrote on Instagram: "Happy Valentine's Day Boo-Boo, [heart emoji] Forever and Always.(sic)
In the summer of last year, the model - who also has Natalia, 20, Bianka, six, and three-year-old Capri with the tragic NBA star and appears to have remained single since his death - was awarded $16 million in damages after a jury found the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) and Fire Department (LAFD) had caused emotional distress by sharing photos from the fatal helicopter crash in January 2020 but her attorney Luis Li, confirmed at the time that Vanessa will be donating the money to the Mamba and Mambacita Foundation because she hadn't taken action for financial gain.
Luis said in a statement: "From the beginning, Vanessa Bryant has sought only accountability, but our legal system does not permit her to force better policies, more training or officer discipline.
"Those measures are the responsibility of the sheriff’s and fire departments -- responsibilities that Mrs. Bryant’s efforts have exposed as woefully deficient, even giving amnesty to the wrongdoers.
"Mrs. Bryant was courageous and never faltered, even when the County attempted to force her to submit to an involuntary psychiatric examination. She is deeply grateful to Ralph Mendez and Luella Weireter, the good Samaritans who brought to light the decades old practice of taking and sharing photos of accident and crime victims for no legitimate purpose.
"It is Mrs. Bryant’s hope that this important civil rights case will put to a stop this abhorrent and callous behaviour.”
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