Vanessa Bryant Honors Kobe Bryant in New Wedding Anniversary Post
Vanessa Bryant paid tribute to her late husband, Kobe Bryant, in a new Instagram post on April 18 in honor of their wedding anniversary.
Bryant’s heartfelt post acknowledges the couple’s 24-year anniversary and highlights her husband’s number 24 Los Angeles Lakers jersey. “#24 #Anniversary @KobeBryant 4/18/01,” the 42-year-old philanthropist caption read alongside a photo of the two at the Rush Hour 2 premiere in July 2001.
Happy Anniversary To Kobe Bryant & Vanessa Bryant
— 8/24 (@8_24Mamba4Ever) April 18, 2025
Mambas forever pic.twitter.com/nxOUZfTb2B
The couple first met in the summer of 1999 and engaged within six months of dating. They would marry on April 18, 2001, with 12 people in attendance at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in Dana Point, California. After tying the knot, they welcomed four daughters into their family.
However, on January 26, 2020, the NBA player and his daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles alongside seven other passengers. Leading up to the fifth anniversary of their deaths, Bryant announced the release of a catalog of over 100 murals titled Mamba and MambaCita Forever to honor their lasting impact.
The book will be released on August 19, just days before the basketball player’s birthday on August 24. According to a press release, the book “brings together the images and stories” of the public art installations that honored the Bryants.
In the years following her “soulmate” and “baby girl’s” passing, Bryant has honored both of them in a series of memorials to keep their legacies alive. In August, the Lakers and Bryant revealed a bronze statue of the two outside the Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles. Then, in March 2022, she reached a new deal with Nike to continue her husband’s basketball shoe and athletic clothing line.
Vanessa Bryant teases some upcoming Kobe's pic.twitter.com/pIWUqttRYx
— House of Heat° (@houseofheat) April 2, 2025
“The pain is unimaginable {but} you just have to get up and push forward,” Bryant told People in March 2021. “Lying in bed crying isn’t going to change the fact that my family will never be the same again.”
She continued, “But getting out of bed and pushing forward will make the day better for my girls and me. So that’s what I do.”
Click here to pre-order a copy of Mamba and Mambacita Forever.
