Vanessa Bryant is coping with the loss of her husband, former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, and their 13-year old daughter, Gianna. She has not yet made a public statement about the passing of Kobe or Gianna, but she switched her Instagram profile from private to public and also changed her profile picture to a shot of Kobe and Gianna hugging each other. And just weeks before the tragedy, Vanessa shared a Tik Tok video of her and Gianna doing their own handshake. In the caption, Vanessa wrote, “My Gigi #Mambacita mommy and me.”
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Gianna was aspiring to be a basketball star like her dad. She had aspirations of playing college basketball at the University of Connecticut; when the school heard about her death, the team displayed a No. 2 jersey with flowers in her honor. Gianna wore No. 2 on her travel basketball team for Kobe’s Mamba Sports Academy.
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“Gigi started to show a tremendous interest in the game,” Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma told ESPN before the game, referring to when Bryant and Gianna had attended a UConn-UCLA game in Los Angeles. “Our kids were fascinated by her, and obviously for a little girl to be in the company of those players, I can’t put myself in her shoes, but it must have been an unbelievable thrill. … This little girl who’s looking up to these players like they’re superhuman, and you’ve got my players looking to her dad like, ‘Oh my god.’”
Despite Vanessa not making a statement yet about Kobe and Gianna, it has been reported she’s struggling to cope with the losses.
“Vanessa is completely shocked and heartbroken but is trying to stay as strong as she can in front of her children,” an insider told Entertainment Tonight. “Vanessa married Kobe when she was 18 and never expected to live her life without him, and that is going to take time.”
The insider continued, “She has been surrounded by her family and friends but she feels almost numb to everything. She is thankful for the outpouring of love her and her family has received and will respond when she’s ready. Right now she’s taking time to be with her girls.”
Kobe and Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday along with the pilot and six other passengers. They were heading to the Mamba Sports Academy for a basketball tournament.
