On January 26, 2020, the world was shocked with the news of NBA legend Kobe Bryant's death at 41 years old. Kobe, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, two of her friends, and four other adults were killed when the helicopter they were traveling in crashed in Calabasas on a foggy morning.
The entirety of the situation was truly heart-wrenching for people around the globe. Not only was this athlete who defined a generation suddenly gone, but so too was the potential of Gianna. The loss of the young teen was immense. Gigi was already priming herself for the WNBA, prepared to follow in her father's immense footsteps and not at all intimidated by the prospect. The dedication that takes is not something you come across every day.
While the public had their reasons to mourn, their hearts also broke for the Bryant family. Kobe and his wife, Vanessa, were together for 20 years and still had a lifetime ahead of them. Vanessa had to deal with this loss and the unspeakable loss of a child, while also being there for her three other daughters.
Vanessa carried that weight with a strength few could exhibit under the same circumstances. She stood in front of countless onlookers and eulogized her husband and child and shared her sympathy for the other lives lost. One year later, that strength has continued to pull her through. Though it is bittersweet, there is so much beauty to look back on in the lives of Kobe and Gianna. Many close to them are choosing to remember them that way on this solemn occasion.
On the first anniversary of Kobe and Gianna Bryant's deaths, many people have had the Bryant family in their hearts and minds. Vanessa began the day by sharing a heartfelt letter from a friend of Gianna's celebrating what a beautiful person Vanessa and Kobe raised.
"Today I received this sweet letter from one of Gianna's best friends, Aubrey. I love you Aubz (as my Gigi would call you)," Vanessa wrote.
"Thank you so much for beautifully sharing some of your memories of my Gigi with me and allowing me to share them here on my ig."
"My mind constantly thinks of your beautiful daughter. Her smile and attitude push me to be better. You have probably heard this, but if I ever become a mom, I hope my daughter turns out exactly as yours did. She was kind, caring, and endlessly polite," Gigi's friend Aubrey wrote.
"Her love of life is something I will also admire endlessly. She attacked each day as though it was hers to conquer. She would smile and bring the rest of us up with her. The mere fact that she boosted my confidence enough to get me to play basketball with her for four years shows how powerful she was."
Aubrey recalled what an impact Gianna made on her school community. "Gianna was fiery and stubborn, she knew what she wanted and she fought to get it. She led our musical with humility and strength, and set us up for greatness. She joined the student council with dreams of scavenger hunts and bake sales that gave the rest of us hope for a bleary school year," she wrote.
And like so many of us, Aubrey can't help but wonder what could have been.
"There are times I get into a pit of despair thinking about her and what she could've accomplished had she had a couple more years. But recently I have been thinking about the mark she did leave on this earth," Aubrey continued.
"Her fights for equality in sports made the world reconsider [their] opinions, she along with Mr. Bryant, set the wheels in motion. But on a lower level, on behalf of every person who came across her, I can say that she changed our lives. Her simple actions made all of us a better person, and I believe that the results of this will never stop appearing."
"I hope that in the midst of your intense sadness you catch a glimpse of joy in who the daughter you created and raised was," she concluded.
"You did it right Mrs. Bryant, and we are all eternally grateful to you. I am so, so blessed I got to have time with your angel of a daughter, and thank you for giving me that chance. I love you and am thinking of you as we remember and honor her life."
Vanessa was clearly touched by the letter. She reflected on Kobe and Gigi in the rest of her caption.
"My Gigi is INCREDIBLE and I truly appreciate your thoughtful letter. She loves you so much," she wrote.
"I miss my baby girl and Kob-Kob so much, too. ♥️I will never understand why/how this tragedy could've happened to such beautiful, kind and amazing human beings. It still doesn't seem real. Kob, we did it right. Gigi, you still make mommy proud. I love you!"
There's no doubt that tributes to both Kobe and Gianna will continue to emerge throughout the day. So many people were touched by the father and daughter, whether it was a chance meeting or a years-long friendship. The memories, particularly those of Gigi, are truly precious as we learn about what her legacy means to those closest to her.
Gigi's impact would not have surprised her father. Kobe knew there was something special about his little girl, and though he'd dote on all his daughters endlessly, you could tell how special his and Gigi's bond was in the way he spoke about her.
"Yeah, she's pretty fierce," Kobe said of Gianna in a July 2017 interview with Extra.
"She came to me last summer and asked if I would teach her the game a little bit, so she just started playing, but she picked up things innately."
In a 2018 interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kobe joked about how people often thought he needed a son to continue the legacy. Gigi had some thoughts on the matter.
"[Gianna] will be standing next to me, and [fans] will be like, 'You gotta have a boy. You and [Vanessa] gotta have a boy, you gotta have somebody carry on the tradition, the legacy.' And she's like, 'Oh! I got this. Don't need no boy for that! I got this.'"
Kobe's retirement was all about spending time with his kids, making time for the moments that he may have missed before. In that time, it wasn't surprising to see Kobe and Gigi together, sharing their love of the game.
"What I love about Gigi is her curiosity about the game," he told the Los Angeles Times in 2019.
"She's very curious. Even in a heated situation in a game where it's going back and forth, she can detach herself and come to me and ask a very specific question, which is not common. She'll come over and say, 'OK, on this particular trap when I'm trying to close the gap but she's getting on the outside, do I need to change my angle?' It's a very specific question. That's pretty damn cool."
It was rediscovering the love of basketball through Gigi's experience with the game that brought Kobe to life in a way fans had never experienced before. In an appearance on the All the Smoke podcast with fellow NBA veterans Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson just weeks before the accident, Kobe talked about what it was like to go to a Lakers game with her for the first time since retiring.
"We just had so much fun because it was the first time I was seeing the game through her eyes," he said.
"It wasn't me sitting there, you know, as an athlete or a player or something like that, and you know it's like about me, and I don't like that. It was her, she was having such a good time."
