Like father, like daughter. Vanessa Laine Bryant pointed out the striking resemblance between her husband, Kobe Bryant, and their daughter Gianna Bryant multiple times on Instagram weeks before the pair’s untimely death in a helicopter crash.
“So cute! Twins. (same walk),” Vanessa, 37, captioned a video in November 2019 of Kobe and Gianna walking off the court during a Los Angeles Lakers game.
The mom shared another similarity between the duo in December 2019. Vanessa posted a meme that featured a photo of a young Kobe scrunching up his nose while playing basketball. Below that picture was a snapshot of Gianna scrunching up her nose in the exact same way while sitting courtside with her father.
“The look of a young killer,” the meme read. “18-year-old Kobe Bryant. 13-year-old Gigi Bryant aka Mambacita.” Vanessa captioned the post “#TWINNING Gigi” with heart emojis.
Later that month, she shared two photos of the father-daughter duo sitting courtside at a Lakers game. Vanessa noted that Gianna looked like her in the first picture but favored her father’s looks in another photo.
“My twin in the 1st Pic and twinning w/her daddy in the 3rd pic,” she wrote alongside the snapshots.
Kobe and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash along with seven others on Sunday, January 26, in Calabasas, California. He was 41.
The late Los Angeles Lakers player and his daughter were en route to the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California, for a basketball game when the helicopter crashed into a hillside. Us Weekly confirmed on Tuesday, January 28, that the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office confirmed the identities of Kobe, John Altobelli, Sarah Chester and Ara Zobayan using fingertips. The coroner’s office confirmed to Us on Wednesday, January 29, that the five victims of the crash, including Gianna, were also identified.
Vanessa switched her Instagram account to private following the tragic accident but on Wednesday she made her account public again. She changed her profile picture to a photo of Kobe and Gianna and hours later broke her silence for the first time since their death.
“My girls and I want to thank the millions of people who’ve shown support and love during this horrific time,” she captioned a family portrait with Kobe and their daughters Natalia, 17, Gianna, Bianka, 3, and Capri, 7 months. “Thank you for all the prayers. We definitely need them. We are completely devastated by the sudden loss of my adoring husband, Kobe — the amazing father of our children; and my beautiful, sweet Gianna — a loving, thoughtful, and wonderful daughter, and amazing sister to Natalia, Bianka, and Capri.”
Vanessa added that the Mamba Sports Foundation had created a new fund to provide resources to the families of the victims.
“To honor our Team Mamba family, the Mamba Sports Foundation has set up the MambaOnThree Fund to help support the other families affected by this tragedy. To donate, please go to MambaOnThree.org,” she wrote. “To further Kobe and Gianna’s legacy in youth sports, please visit MambaSportsFoundation.org. Thank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers, and for loving Kobe, Gigi, Natalia, Bianka, Capri and me. #Mamba #Mambacita #GirlsDad #DaddysGirls #Family ❤️.”
