[griojw id=”AnyUrt6k” playerid=””]
On Friday, Gianna Bryant and her three teammates were posthumously honored and named as WNBA draftees. The next day, her mother Vanessa Bryant honored her late husband Kobe with a loving Instagram tribute on their 19th wedding anniversary.
“My king, my heart, my best friend,” wrote Bryant, a 37-year-old mother of three. “Happy 19th wedding anniversary baby. I miss you so much. I wish you were here to hold me in your arms. I love you.”
READ MORE: WNBA unveils new advocacy award in the name of Kobe, Gianna Bryant
The Bryants met in 1999 on the set of a music video and married on April 18, 2001.
While this is the couple’s first wedding anniversary after All-Star Lakers’ tragic death in January from a helicopter crash, Vanessa received a gift of beautiful red roses from Kobe’s former teammate, Pau Gausol and his wife, Catherine McDonnell.
Vanessa also shared a video clip from a 2001 MTV interview of Kobe where he praised his wife and explained how he knew she was “the one.”
“Vanessa, she’s very strong. She’s very strong-willed,” he added, noting that in the future he saw them as being “two cool a** parents.”
READ MORE: Vanessa Bryant, daughter Natalia react to Kobe’s Hall of Fame induction
The Bryants went on to have four daughters, Natalia (17), Bianka (3), Capri (9) months, and Gianna who died in the tragic helicopter crash alongside her father on January 26.