May 1 would’ve marked the 14th birthday of Kobe and Vanessa Bryant‘s second eldest child Gianna.
Once poised to follow in the footsteps of her legendary father, Gigi – as she was affectionately known – was among 9 (including Kobe) who were killed in a helicopter crash in January.
To remember the late teen, Vanessa took to Instagram with a heartfelt tribute.
See it inside:
The caption reads:
“Happy 14th Birthday to my sweet baby girl, Gianna. Mommy loves you more than I can ever show you. You are part of MY SOUL forever. I miss you so much everyday. I wish I could wake up and have you here with me. I miss your smile, your hugs and your giggles. I miss EVERYTHING about YOU, Gigi. I LOVE YOU so much!!!!!!!”
To honor Mambacita (Gigi) and commemorate her birthday, Vanessa asked fans to wear red in her memory (as seen above).
The caption reads:
“Gianna loved to wear a red bow in all of her school pictures. Red means love and life. To commemorate Gigi’s birthday today, please consider wearing red, caption an act of kindness or show how you will play Gigi’s way since she always gave everything she did her all and led with kindness. ❤️Please use the hashtag #PlayGigisWay ❤️Thank you. 5-1-06 Mambacita (We are in the process of making this bracelet available for proceeds to benefit our Mamba and Mambacita foundation. I will update you with a post when we have them available for purchase).“
God bless this family and those affected.
We have 70,000 dead, no cure for a deadly respiratory pandemic, millions unemployed and worried about if they will lose their home as well as how they will put food on the table, food banks running out of food, fearful people wondering if they or their loved ones will be next to catch this deadly v****, the people who still work are fearful of bringing the deadly v**** home, a federal government putting money before lives, YET, again YET, Vanessa is asking these same citizens to celebrate her daughters birthday, buy a bracelet to which the funds will go to a foundation that boosts kids self esteem through sports????? This, when Kobe’a networth was 600 million at death and his life insurance was at minimum 3 times his networth on top of Vanessa also having a pending wrongful death settlement coming from the aviation company for negligence. MAKE THIS MAKE SENSE!!!!