Vanessa Bryant wishes Mary J Blige a happy 50th birthday with special throwback post

What's a birthday without a few throwback photos?

Vanessa Bryant has been blessed to have an amazing support system in the wake of losing both her husband and daughter in 2020. But this week, Kobe Bryant‘s widow has shown love back to one of her faves, Mary J. Blige, in celebration of the singer’s 50th birthday.

Monday, Bryant took to her Instagram to wish the nine-time Grammy winner a happy 50th by posting some lighthearted black and white throwback pictures.

HOLLYWOOD, CA – MARCH 04: (L-R) Mary J. Blige, Vanessa Laine Bryant, and filmmaker Kobe Bryant, winner of the Best Animated Short Film award for ‘Dear Basketball,’ attend the 90th Annual Academy Awards Governors Ball at Hollywood

Read More: Vanessa Bryant speaks on Kobe, Gianna for TIME’s 2020 Person of the Year In Memoriam

“Happy birthday!!!! Love you! (tb pic for the people that need this note….)” the 38-year-old wrote in the photo’s caption, seemingly adding a note that the pictures were old for anyone who may be upset that she and Blige were maskless and not social distancing in the snapshots.

According to reports, Bryant and Blige posed for the pictures back in October of 2018 in a photo booth at the Night of Sisterhood, which benefits the American Cancer Society.

The entertainer was also very good friends with Kobe and was seen hanging out with the couple earlier that same year at the 2018 Academy Awards. MJB was nominated for her supporting role and original song in Mudbound and Bryant ultimately won Best Animated Short Film for his film, Dear Basketball.

READ MORE: Chadwick Boseman’s widow delivers moving acceptance speech: ‘I love you’

As we previously reported, in celebration of Christmas, Bryant also shared a throwback black-and-white family photo with her late husband and daughter Gianna Bryant, who both tragically died in a helicopter accident last January.

Alongside the beautiful images, she added the caption: “Always Together, Never Apart Together Forever In Our Hearts. Kobe, Vanessa, Natalia, Gianna, Bianka, and Capri.” She placed a series of heart emojis in the middle of the message.

In the first photo, she is pictured sitting on a white sofa with her remaining children — Bianka, Capri, and Natalia — beside her. In the second photo, which figures to have been her last Christmas spent with Kobe and Gianna, Vanessa poses with her daughters and Kobe, who is smiling brightly with daughter Gianna leaning on his shoulder while he holds the youngest child, Capri, in his arms.

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