Vanessa Bryant SPEECH Kobe Bryant FUNERAL Memorial

Now I would like to introduce you to the person who invited us all here today at 224 because he knew we needed it and we cannot celebrate the lives of Kobe and Gigi and all the people we lost without honoring the woman that Kobe and Gigi loved most, for favor. welcome

vanessa

bryant

thank you thank you so much everyone for being here it means a lot to us too I love you first I would like to thank everyone for coming today the outpouring of love and support my family has felt from around the world it has been so uplifting thank you so much for all your prayers.

I'd like to talk about Kobe and Gigi, but I'll start with my girl first. My girl Gianna Bryant is an incredibly sweet and gentle soul, she was always thoughtful and always kissed me. good night and i kissed good morning there were a few times when i was absolutely tired of being up with bianca and capri and i thought she had left for school without saying goodbye i texted her and said no kissing and gianna would reply With mom, I kissed you, but you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you up. She knew how much her morning and evening kisses meant to me and she was so thoughtful in remembering to kiss me every day.

She was daddy's girl, but I know she loved her mom and she would. always tell me and show me how much she loved me she was one of my best friends she loved to bake she loved to put a smile on everyone's face last august she made a beautiful birthday cake for her dad it had fondant and it looked like it had blue aggie crystals on it

kobe

​​birthday cake looked professionally decorated she made the best chocolate chip cookies she loved watching cooking shows and cupcake fights with me and she loved watching survival and nba games on tv with her dad.

He also loved watching Disney movies with her. sisters gigi was very competitive like her dad but gianna had a sweet grace her smile was like sunlight her smile took up her entire face like mine

kobe

always said she was me she had my fire my personality and sarcasm she was tender and loving on the inside she had the best laugh she was contagious she was pure and genuine kobe and gianna naturally gravitated towards each other she had kobe's ability to listen to a song and memorize all the lyrics after listening to the song a couple of times she was his secret talent she was an amazing athlete she was great at gymnastics soccer softball dance and basketball she was also an amazing dancer she loved swimming she danced do cartwheels and jumped in our pool and gigi loved her tic tac dances gigi was confident but not in an arrogant way , he loved helping and teaching other people things at school.

She was offering men's basketball coaches to help give the men's basketball team some tips on the triangle offense. She was a lot like her dad and they both liked helping people learn new things and master them. They were excellent teachers. Gigi was very sweet. She always made sure everyone was okay. She was our shepherd. She always kept our family together. She loved her family traditions. Family movie night and game night on vacation were important to her. Gigi always took care of everyone. she was very in tune with our feelings and wanted the best for us gianna was smart, could read, speak and write mandarin, knew spanish, had great grades and kept them up while becoming an amazing basketball player, was school spirit president at the students. advice she was assistant director of her school play just like her older sister she was looking forward to graduating from 8th grade and moving on to high school with her older sister nathalia i am very happy that they gave her the opportunity to know that she was accepted into the same high school she was very happy gianna made us all proud and still does gianna never tried to settle she was always herself she was a good person a leader a teacher who wore a white t-shirt black leggings a jean jacket white converse high tops and a flannel tied around her waist with straight hair was her favorite style, she had a lot of style and rhythm since she was a baby, she gave the best hugs and the best kisses, she had beautiful soft lips like her dad, she hugged and held me.

I was so tight I could feel she loved me. I loved the way she looked at me while she hugged me. It was like I was getting completely soaked. We love each other very much. I miss her so much. She had so much energy that she couldn't. Keep up the energy she laughed Natalia and I on a track once when she was about six we let her have a head start she still tested us I miss her sweet kisses I miss her intelligence I miss her sarcasm her wit and that adorable sly side smile followed by a smile and a laugh we share the same cat that ate the canary.

Gigi was a sunshine, she brightened my day every day. I miss looking at her beautiful face. She was always so good at following the rules. She knew she could. I always count on her to do the right thing. She was the most loving daughter. A thoughtful little sister and a silly older sister. She happily helped carry the little ones' diaper bags or played with them. She liked to help me with Bianca and Capri. Bianca loved going to the playground swimming and jumping on the diving board with Gigi. She used to tell Gigi that she thought Coco considered her her favorite sister.

Capri was smiling from ear to ear when Gigi walked into the room and Capri reminds me a lot of Gianna. They look alike and they just smile with all her smile. face pure joy we won't be able to see Gigi go to high school with Natalia and ask her how her day went we didn't have the opportunity to teach her how to drive a car I won't be able to tell her how beautiful she looks on her wedding day. I will never get to see my baby walk down the aisle have a father daughter dance with her dad dance on the dance floor with me or have her own babies gianna she would have been an amazing mom.

She was very motherly since she was little. Gigi probably would have become the best player in the wnba. She would have made a big difference. She would have made a huge difference for women's basketball. Gigi was motivated to change the way everyone viewed women in sports. she wrote articles in school defending women and wrote about how the unequal pay gap between the nba and wnba leagues was not fair and I really feel like she made positive changes for wnba players now that they knew Gigi's goal was to eventually play in the wnba. I am still very proud of Gianna, she made a difference and was kind to everyone she met and during the 13 years she was here on earth, her classmates shared many good memories about Gianna with us and those stories reminded me that Gianna loved and showed everyone that no act of kindness is too small to make a difference in someone's life.

She was always considerate of others and her feelings. she was a beautiful, kind, happy, silly, thoughtful and loving daughter and sister. she was so full of life and had so much more. to offer this world I can't imagine life without her mommy natalia bianca capri and dad I love you so much gigi will miss your sweet handmade cards your sweet kisses and your beautiful smile I miss you all every day I love you okay my soulmate kobe He was known as a fierce competitor on the basketball court the greatest of all time a writer an oscar winner and the black mamba but to me he was kobe kobe my booboo my baboo my papi chulo I was his bibi his principessa his queen his queen mom mamba and his viewski miniski fabuliski i couldn't see him as a celebrity or just an amazing basketball player he was my sweet husband and the beautiful father of our children he was mine he was my everything kobe and i have been together since I was 17 and a year and a half old I was his first girlfriend his first love his wife his best friend his confidant and his protector he was the most amazing husband Kobe loved me more than I could ever express or put into words he was the early riser and I was a Night Owl I was fire and he was ice and vice versa sometimes we balanced each other he would do anything for me I have no idea how I deserved a man who loved me and wanted me more than Kobe he was charismatic a gentleman I loved Adoring and romantic, he was truly the romantic one in our relationship and looked forward to Valentine's Day and our anniversaries each year.

He planned special anniversary trips and a special traditional gift for each year of our marriage. He even handmade my most precious gifts. He just thought. out of the ordinary and was so thoughtful even while working hard to be the best athlete that he gave me the real notebook and the blue dress that rachel mcadams wore in the notebook movie when I asked him why he chose the blue dress he said it was because a scene in which ali returns with noah we were hoping to grow old together like in the movie we really had an incredible love story we loved each other with all our being two perfectly imperfect people forming a beautiful family and raising our sweet and wonderful girls as a couple Weeks before After they passed away, Kobe sent me a sweet text and mentioned that he wanted to spend time together just the two of us without our kids because I'm his best friend.

First of all, we never had the chance to do it, we were busy taking care of our girls and just going about our day to day responsibilities, but I'm grateful to have that recent text message, it means a lot to me. Kobe wanted us to renew our vows, he wanted Natalia to take over her company and he wanted to travel the world together, we had always done that. He talked about how we would be fun grandparents to our daughter's children. He would have been the best grandfather. Kobe was the mvp of girl dads or mvd. He never left the toilet lid up.

He always told the girls how beautiful and smart they were. He taught them how to be brave and how to keep going when things get tough and when Kobe retired from the NBA, he took over dropping off and picking up our daughters from school since I was home pregnant with Bianca and recently breastfeeding. at home to Capri when Kobe was still playing, he used to arrive an hour early to be the first in line to pick up Nathalia and Gianna from school and I told him he couldn't drop the ball once he took over, once He was late and we definitely left him.

He knew that he was never late, so he arrived an hour and 20 minutes early, after that he always knew that there was room for improvement and he wanted to do better. He happily carpooled and enjoyed spending time in the car with our girls. He was a sweetheart. father, a father who was hands-on and present, helped me bathe Bianca and Capri almost every night, sang them silly songs in the shower, and continued to make them laugh and smile as he lathered lotion on them and got them ready for bed. He had magic. arms and could put Capri to sleep in just a few minutes she said she had a science eight times down our hallway she loved taking Bianca to fashion island and watching her play in the koi pond area and she loved taking her to the park her visit most recent to the koi pond was the night before he and gigi passed away he shared a love of movies and movie casting with natalya he enjoyed renting movie theaters and taking natalya to see the newest star wars movie or the harry potter movies and they had movie marathons and he enjoyed every second.

He also loved the typical tears of his. He liked to watch his stepmother steal magnolias and little women. He had a tender heart. Kobe somehow knew where he was at all times, specifically when he was late to his games. He would worry about me if he wasn't in my seat at the start of every game and would ask security where he was the first time after the first quarter and my know-it-all would tell him he wasn't coming. to score 81 points in the first 10 minutes of the game, I think anyone with kids understands that sometimes we can't get out the door on time and eventually they got used to my tardiness and forgot about the fact that I could play in a intense professional level and still worrying about making sure we got to the game safely was just another example of how family came first for him.

He loved being Gianna's basketball coach. He told me that he wished he had convinced Natalia to play basketball so that they could have spent even more time together, but he also wanted her to follow her own passion. He watched Natalia play in a volleyball tournament on her birthday, January 19, and noticed that she is a very intelligent player. He was convinced that he would have made a great comment. Guard with his court vision and he told me that he wanted Bianca and Capri to take up basketball when they were older so he could spend as much time with them as he did with Gigi and Kobe always told Bianca and Capri that they were going to grow up and play basketball and mingle now they won't have their dad and sister here to teach them and that's really a loss, I don't understand it, but I'm so grateful that Kobe heard Coco say dad, he is.

He won't be here to drop Bianca and Capri off at preschool or kindergarten. He won't be here to tell me to get a grip when we have to leave the kindergarten classroom or show up for our daughter's doctor visits. my own supportmorally, he may not be able to walk our daughters down the aisle or spin me around on the dance floor while he sings pyt to me, but I want my daughters to know and remember what an incredible person he was, a husband and father, the kind of man he wanted to teach future generations to be better and prevent them from making their own mistakes.

He always liked to work and do projects to improve the lives of children. He taught us all valuable lessons about life and sports through his MBA career, his books, his program. Detail and his Puny podcast series and we are so grateful that he left us those lessons and stories, he was thoughtful and wrote the best love letters and cards, and Gigi had her wonderful ability to express her feelings on paper and make you feel her love. Through his words, she was considered just like him, they were so easy to love, everyone naturally gravitated towards them, they were fun, happy, silly and loved life, they were so full of joy and adventure, God knew they couldn't be in this land without the other.

I had to take them to heaven together honey you take care of our Gigi and I havenani bb and coco we are still the best team we love you and we miss you boo and gigi may you both rest in peace and have fun in heaven until we meet again one day we love you both and will miss you forever and ever mommy