Vanessa Bryant finds Kobe's last love letter and opens it on birthday: ‘To the love of my Life, from Tu Papi’
Vanessa Bryant turned 38 on Tuesday, May 5, and received the most unexpected gift on her birthday. It was a letter from her late husband, Kobe Bryant.
She shared a glimpse of a yellow envelope in which the letter was tucked in as she celebrated her birthday without the NBA legend who died in a helicopter crash on 26 January. She also lost her teenage daughter, Gianna "Gigi” Bryant, in the same crash as the father-daughter duo was traveling from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport.
Taking to Instagram, Vanessa wrote: “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.
This comes after Vanessa celebrated her deceased daughter’s 14th birthday on Instagram May 1. She shared a picture of the young girl on the social media platform and wrote: “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 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 a separate post, Vanessa shared three pictures 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).”
Earlier in April, a video posted online showed that Kobe and Vanessa Bryant’s daughter Bianka is a star when the little one performed a song adorably. The clip was made by Vanessa in which her eldest daughter, Natalia, and two of her cousins, are seen dancing to the 2008 track 'We Rock' from the Disney film ‘Camp Rock.’
Barely had they started when they had an unexpected guest and it was none other than Bianka. The three-year-old suddenly slid into the frame and stole the show from her sisters, dancing on her own and laughing at the camera as her relatives were surprised to see her energy.
“Little sister. Bianka Bella. BB Kiddo @nataliabryant #family #cousins,” the wife of the late basketball legend captioned the footage while sharing it on her Instagram account.