Vanessa Bryant Delivers Moving Eulogy for Kobe and Gianna: ‘We Love You Both and Miss You’

Vanessa Bryant memorialized both her husband Kobe and her daughter Gianna in an emotional eulogy at the Staples Center Monday. Bryant received a standing ovation as she got up to speak.

She opened with her daughter Gigi, saying, “She loved helping and teaching other people things. At school she offered the boys’ basketball coaches to help give the boys’ basketball team some pointers, like the triangle offense. She was very much like her daddy and they both liked helping people learn new things and master them. They were great teachers. Gigi was very sweet, she was always making sure everybody was okay. She was our shepherd. She always kept our family together.”

Bryant teared up talking about her daughter and what a kind and talented person she was:

“She would have most likely become the best player in the WNBA. She would have made a huge difference for women’s basketball. Gigi was motivated to change the way everyone viewed wome in sports She wrote papers in school defending women and wrote about how the unequal pay difference for the NBA and WNBA leagues wasn’t fair. And I truly feel she made positive changes for the WNBA players now, since they knew Gigi’s goal was to play in the WNBA. I am still so proud of Gianna, she made a difference and she was kind to everybody she met in the 13 years she was here on Earth. Her classmates shared many fond memories about Gianna with us, and those stories reminded us that Gianna loved and showed everyone that no act is too small to make a difference in somebody’s life. She was always, always, always considerate of others and their 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 cannot imagine life without her.”

“Now for my soulmate,” Bryant continued as she talked about what a caring husband Kobe was. “He was my everything.”

“He would do anything for me. I have no idea how I deserved a man that loved and wanted me more than kobe. He was charismatic, a gentleman, he was loving, adoring, and romantic. He was truly the romantic one in our relationship,” she said. “We really had an amazing love story.”

Bryan talked about Kobe’s “tender heart” and how he was a devoted father:

“I want my daughters to know and remember the amazing person, husband, and father he was, the kind of man that wanted to teach the future generations to be better and keep them from making his own mistakes. He always liked working and doing projects to improve kids’ lives. He taught us all valuable lessons about life and sports through his NBA career, his books, his show Detail, and his Punies podcast series. We’re so thankful he left those lessons and stories behind for us. He was thoughtful and wrote the best love letters and cards, and Gigi had his wonderful ability to express your feelings into paper and make you feel her love through her words. She was thoughtful like him. They were so easy to love. Everybody naturally gravitated towards them. They were funny, happy, silly, and they loved life. They were so full of joy and adventure.”

She concluded, “We love and miss you, Boo-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 miss you. Forever and always, mommy.”

You can watch her full eulogy above, via CNN.

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