Vanessa Bryant was one of several speakers at Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant’s celebration of life at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 24, delivering a eulogy for her husband and 13-year-old daughter in front of a crowd of 20,000. Vanessa’s eulogy celebrated Kobe and Gigi as both the athletes they were and the people they were, and her words earned praise on social media from people applauding her courage.
“After watching the final memorial service for Kobe and Gianna today and then coming across this, my heart just breaks. Vanessa, you are so strong for speaking out today,” one fan tweeted. “Truly an inspiration. It blows my mind how we can be here today and gone the next.”
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“Rewatched Vanessa Bryant’s speech this morning about Kobe and Gianna,” shared another. “I am in awe of her courage and strength. She’s enduring the unthinkable.”
A third person wrote, “Vanessa was always Kobe’s rock. She showed us that strength today as we all take another step in healing w/ her. We are not moving on but instead moving forward. As Kobe’s said,sometimes it’s a journey u don’t want to take but it’s what makes u stronger.”
“Vanessa being strong and talking about Kobe and Gigi in front of thousands of people is very brave,” tweeted a fourth. “I have no idea what pain your feeling but I’m grieving with you and crying.”
During her eulogy, Vanessa said that her daughter had a smile “like sunshine.”
“Her smile took up her entire face. Like me. Kobe always said she was like me,” she said. “She had my fire, my personality and sarcasm. She was tender and loving on the inside. She had the best laugh. She had the best laugh. It was infectious. It was pure and genuine.”
“She was so full of life and had so much more to offer this world,” Vanessa said. “I cannot imagine life without her.”
Vanessa and Kobe were together for 20 years and Vanessa called him “the MVP of girl dads.”
“I have no idea how I deserved a man that loved and wanted me more than Kobe,” she told the crowd. “He was charismatic, a gentleman. He was loving, adoring and romantic. He was truly the romantic one in our relationship. I looked forward to Valentine’s Day and our anniversaries every year.”
“God knew they couldn’t be on this Earth without each other,” she concluded. “He had to bring them home to heaven together. Babe, you take care of our Gigi.”
Photo Credit: Getty / Kevork Djansezian
