Vanessa Bryant Receives Flowers From 'Kobe' for their 19th Wedding Anniversary

(Photo: Screenshot from the IG account of @vanessabryant)

Vannesa Bryant's Instagram account has been filled by bitter-sweet posts on Saturday. Last April 18 was the supposed 19th wedding anniversary of Vanessa and NBA Legend Kobe Bryant.

Even though her other half has tragically died in a plane crash, Vanessa did not feel less loved last Saturday. 

According to a source of ET, Vanessa celebrated the anniversary with her daughters.

Vanessa's IG posts

In her Instagram account, Vanessa shared a photo of a large bouquet of red roses, which she captioned with "Anniversary flowers from my Kobe."

The flowers were from Kobe's former teammate, Pau Gasol, and his wife which they sent in behalf of Kobe.

Aside from the photo of the bouquet, Vanessa also shared a throwback video of Kobe in an interview for MTV News in 2001. In the interview, Kobe explained in a heartfelt message why he considered her as "the one." Kobe said in the video that he does not have a concrete reason as to why he considers Vanessa as the one, it was just something that he knew. Kobe also described Vanessa in the video as a strong-willed woman. 

Vanessa also shared an old photo of her and Kobe on a couch. Her caption for this photo was, "My king, my heart, my best friend. Happy 19th wedding anniversary baby..."

Vanessa and Kobe: How it all began.

The two met in a music video shoot in 1999. During that time, Vanessa was still in high school, while Kobe was 20 years old. When Vanessa turned 18, they already got engaged. And on April 18, 2001, Vanessa and Kobe finally tied the knot.

The couple was first blessed with Natalia, who is now 17 years old. After Natalia is Giana, 13, Bianka, three, and Capri who is only nine months old.

The tragic death of Kobe and Giana

In January, Kobe and Giana died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. They were on their way to a youth basketball event when they crashed. 

During the crash, a total of nine people died, including the pilot of the helicopter. 

Since then, there has been outpouring support for Vanessa and the Bryant family from fans and their friends.

Kobe's Retirement

Kobe retired in April 2016. His decision, according to an article by CBS Sports was made after realizing that he has finally accepted that he no longer wants to do it anymore. 

The Los Angeles Lakers star won five championships and was awarded twice as NBA Finals MVP. He played for twenty years before retiring in 2016. 

After retirement, Kobe did not take the path everyone thought he was going to take: coaching. Instead, the NBA Legend decided to focus on multimedia, allowing him to receive his Oscars, Sports Emmy and the like. In an interview with USA Today that he also did not expect winning an Oscar, especially since as a kid, he dreamt of winning championships. The career who took after retirement is very different from that, but he considers this as something that he wanted to do, which is to tell stories.