Vanessa Bryant celebrates first birthday without Kobe and Gigi, daughters surprise her with flowers and piñatas
Vanessa Bryant turned 38 on Tuesday, May 5. It was her first birthday without her husband Kobe Bryant who died in a helicopter crash on 26 January. Her teenage daughter, Gianna "Gigi” Bryant, also died in the same crash as the father-daughter duo was traveling from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport.
However, her three daughters -- Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and Capri, 10 months -- did not let any sadness creep over the special day as they surprised their mother with beautiful flower arrangements and a multitude of colorful piñatas. Vanessa shared the picture of the celebration on her Instagram page, and which was only made possible with extra love and support from her daughters.
“#CincodeMayo #TacoTuesday #micumpleaños 🎂 Thx to my girls for ordering these flowers and piñatas for mama. ❤️😘” she captioned the image in which Vanessa was seen smiling with her children. In her Instagram Story, she also shared that her daughters gifted her a series of pink and purple balloons, some of which were diamond and heart-shaped. Her eldest one gave her a card that read: “You are strongest person I know and I am so grateful to have you as my mom! I will always be the Ethel to your Lucy!"
This comes soon after Vanessa received the most unexpected gift on her birthday. It was a letter from her late legendary husband. Sharing a glimpse of a yellow envelope in which the letter was tucked in, she wrote on Instagram: “Yesterday I found an envelope labeled 'To: The Love of my Life. From, Tu Papi' I waited to open one more letter on my birthday. It gave me something to look forward to today.
“The irony is that Kobe had a photo of me drawn with an Angel holding me up by an artist on the cover. Missing the Love of my Life and my sweet little Mamacita- my fellow Taurus. Grateful to wake up to my three sweet girls today. Wish we were all together,” followed by a hashtag that read, “MyBirthdayWish”.
She also posted an image of her holding the yellow envelope. Her hand covered the message that was written in cursive on the front of the card.
Vanessa’s birthday came a few days after her late daughter’s birthday on May 1. If alive, Gigi would have turned 14. She shared a picture of the young girl on the social media platform and wrote: “Happy 14th 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 every day. 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!!!!!!!”
In addition to wishing her daughter on her birthday, Vanessa also posted three photos on the social media site that seemed to have her daughter’s hand with a red band. “Gianna loved to wear a red bow in all of her school pictures. Red means love and life,” she captioned the image.
She also asked her fans and followers to celebrate Gigi’s special day by “wearing red, caption an act of kindness or show how you will play Gigi’s way since she always gave everything she did her all and led with kindness. Please use the hashtag #PlayGigisWay. Thank you. 5-1-06 Mambacita (We are in the process of making this bracelet available for proceeds to benefit our Mamba and Mambacita foundation. I will update you with a post when we have them available for purchase).”