'Welcome to your 20s': Vanessa Bryant shares heartfelt wishes for daughter Natalia Bryant on her birthday
NEW PORT, CALIFORNIA: Natalia Bryant, the eldest daughter of Vanessa Bryant and the late NBA player Kobe Bryant, turned 20 on Thursday, January 19, 2023. The dotting mother of three took to Instagram to wish her oldest child a happy 20th birthday after sharing a series of adorable solo pictures of her firstborn. This is Natalia's second birthday without her father and her younger sister Gigi who tragically died in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020.
"Welcome to your 20s!!! We love you so much, baby!!!" the philanthropist enthusiastically said in the caption. The devoted mother, who married Kobe Bryant in 2001, shared a picture of her daughter Natalia wearing a brown one-shoulder dress to the Babylon premiere last month. She also shared a close-up picture of the young beauty who was wearing a pink sweater and had loose waves with accent braids in her hair. The last picture was a holiday photo of Natalia lounging on a yacht with sunglasses on. The devastating deaths of Natalia's father and sister happened three years ago, as per DailyMail.
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In a 2021 interview with People, Vanessa discussed her grief process and that she goes on by focusing on her children. She said during the interview that she is "extremely proud of Natalia," referring to Natalia as her "right-hand woman." She said that after the unfortunate deaths of Kobe and Gianna, she had adopted the role of a comforting presence for her daughters. "Helping my girls navigate through this heartache is important to me. Making sure that they know that they are loved, supported, and important is what motivates me," she noted.
The young model has had a busy couple of years. The model signed with IMG models, one of the biggest agencies in the world, in February 2021. In the fall of 2011, she started her first semester at USC and she has been juggling work and school ever since. She has compared herself to Hannah Montana for Vogue's beauty secrets, saying she goes from cool shoots to studying. We can anticipate seeing her pursue a profession in the entertainment business since she revealed to Teen Vogue in September 2021 that she is majoring in cinema. When asked if she intended to break into Hollywood at the Vanity Fair party in March 2022, she answered "yeah, definitely," as per Hola.
The model has always talked about wearing necklaces in her father's honor to keep his memory close. One of them says ‘Slim.’ “That was my nickname growing up. All my jerseys said Slim,” she said in the video for Vogue magazine. Kobe gave her the moniker since she couldn't fit in the jerseys as a small child. She also has a second necklace that honors the Mamba and Mambacita Foundation. The organization was started by Kobe and renamed by Vanessa in 2020 to remember him and Gianna. Its goal is to help underprivileged athletes by offering financial support.
Ever since she lost her father and her younger sister Gianna in a helicopter crash, Natalia has demonstrated her fortitude and resilience. The following week marks three years since their tragic passing. The former five-time Lakers champion died when he was 41 years old and Gianna was just 13 at the time. Kobe was survived by his younger children Bianka, 6, and Capri,3, in addition to Vanessa and Natalia.
