Kobe Bryant memorial: Vanessa says Kobe couldn’t be on Earth without Gianna, ‘babe, you take care of our Gigi’
Vanessa Bryant took to the center stage at the "Celebration of Life" at the Staples Center to pay tribute to Kobe and her daughter Gianna in an emotional and tearful farewell.
"Kobe was known as a fierce competitor on the basketball court. The greatest of all-time, a writer, and an Oscar winner, the Black Mamba," she said, wiping away tears, before revealing the adorable nicknames they had for each other in one of the more lighthearted moments.
"I couldn't see him as a celebrity nor just an incredible basketball player. He was a sweet husband the beautiful father of our children. He was mine, he was my everything. Kobe and I had been together since I was 17.5-years-old. I was his first girlfriend, his first love, his first wife, his best friend, his confidant, and his protector. He was the most amazing husband."
Vanessa went on to explain how she and Kobe were diametrically opposite in terms of personality and behavior, but that they always "balanced each other out."
"He would do anything for me," she said. "I have no idea how I deserved a man who loved and wanted me more than Kobe. He was charismatic, a gentleman. He was loving, adoring, and romantic."
She said she always looked forward to Valentine's Day and their anniversary because of how romantic he was and how he planned special anniversary trips and handmade her most treasured gifts.
She revealed he gave her the actual notebook and the blue dress that Rachel McAdams wore in 'The Notebook', and that when she asked him why he said it was because it was the dress in which Ally came back to Noah in the movie.
"We had hoped to grow old together like the movie," she said. "We really had an amazing love story. We loved each other with our whole beings. Two perfectly imperfect people making a beautiful family and raising our sweet and amazing girls."
Vanessa said, just a couple of weeks before they passed, Kobe sent her a sweet text telling her he wanted to spend more time with her without their kids because she was "his best friend first."
She said they never got the chance to do it because they were too busy taking care of their girls and with their everyday activities, but that she was thankful for that recent text nonetheless.
"Kobe wanted us to renew our vows; he wanted Natalia to take over his company, and he wanted to travel the world together," she said
She went on to speak about how he was an amazing dad to all their girls and had begun involving himself more in their lives following his retirement from basketball, sharing that he and Bianka went to her favorite coy pond just a day before his death.
"I want my daughters to know and remember the amazing person, husband, and father he was. The kind of man who wanted to teach the future generations to be better and keep them from making his own mistakes."
"God knew they [Kobe and Gianna] couldn't be on this Earth without each other, he had to bring them home to have them together," she said, ending her speech in tears. "Babe, you take care of our Gigi. We love and miss you Booboo and Gigi. May you both rest in peace and have fun in heaven. Until we meet again. Love you always."