Staying strong. Vanessa Bryant posed in front of a mural of her late husband, Kobe Bryant, and her daughter Gianna, seven weeks after the two passed in a fatal helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
“Smile though your heart is aching. Smile even though it’s breaking,” Vanessa, 37, wrote via Instagram on Monday, March 9, quoting Nat King Cole’s song, “Smile.”
Vanessa, who also shares daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and Capri, 7 months, with the late basketball player, posted the photo of herself and her three girls smiling alongside their missing loved ones.
“When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by. If you smile through your fear and sorrow. Smile and maybe tomorrow you’ll see the sun come shining through for you. Light up your face with gladness. Hide every trace of sadness,” she wrote, quoting more of the song. “Although a tear may be ever so near. That’s the time you must keep on trying. Smile, what’s the use of crying? You’ll find that life is still worthwhile if you just smile. That’s the time you must keep on trying. Smile, what’s the use of crying? You’ll find that life is still worthwhile. If you just smile.”
Within three minutes of sharing the picture with her followers, it received more than 280,000 likes.
The bittersweet family photo was posted one day after Vanessa shared a solo shot of her eldest daughter in front of the same mural at her winter formal on Sunday, March 8.
“❤️my babies. Natalia. #winterformal #together #family,” she captioned the picture via Instagram. In the snap, Natalia wore a navy-and-white dress and nude heels as she celebrated the high school dance.
Friends and fans commented on the image of Natalia in a show of love and support for the mourning family.
“Continue to shine bright young queen,” Adrienne Bosh, wife of former Miami Heat player Chris Bosh, commented on the post. “You have done an amazing job @vanessabryant. Love you.”
Last month, a source told Us Weekly that Vanessa “is broken” amid the loss of her husband of 19 years and 13-year-old daughter. In the aftermath of the January crash, Vanessa has been leaning on her mother, Sofia Laine, to help her and the girls, “but at the end of the day, there aren’t words to describe her feelings,” another source told Us.
During her husband and daughter’s February 24 public memorial at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Vanessa paid tribute to her “best friend,” Gianna, and “the most amazing husband.”
