We can only imagine how bittersweet this past Mother’s Day must have been for Vanessa Bryant.
Sunday marked her first time celebrating the holiday since the tragic deaths of her husband Kobe Bryant and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna back in January, but luckily, the 38-year-old basketball wife was surrounded with loving support when she needed it most.
Related: Vanessa Bryant Honors Kobe Bryant On 19th Wedding Anniversary
Vanessa took to Instagram over the weekend and shared some of the thoughtful gifts she received, starting with this touching photo collage (below) from her daughter Natalia! The proud momma reposted the shot, adding these words in her caption:
“I love being your mama @nataliabryant , Gianna, Bianka and Capri. #MyWorld ❤️❤️❤️❤️You are all the very best of mommy and daddy. ❤️”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CABfXQVDlR7/
Vanessa continued sharing more presents on her IG story, including this truly special book titled Why I Love My Mom addressed from all of her kids:

And she also thanked her eldest daughter for a delicious charcuterie board:

It’s heartwarming to see how much love was flowing between Vanessa and her daughters! It sounds like the matriarch was treated like a queen.
The widow’s celebrity friends also made sure to shower her with tokens of affection, including couple Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade, TV personality La La Anthony, basketball player Julius Randle, and designer Rachel Zoe — but this necklace with her daughter’s initials from Ciara definitely stood out among the rest!
See (below):

As we mentioned earlier, this was Bryant’s first Mother’s Day without Kobe and Gigi, which comes less than a week after she also celebrated her latest birthday. At the time, she took to IG and revealed the late NBA legend had left her an unexpected letter she’d never read before:
“Yesterday I found an envelope labeled To: The Love of my Life. From, Tu Papi ❤️I waited to open one more letter on my birthday. It gave me something to look forward to today.❤️The irony is that Kobe had a photo of me drawn with an Angel holding me up by an artist on the cover. Missing the Love of my Life and my sweet little Mamacita- my fellow Taurus. Grateful to wake up to my 3 sweet girls today. Wish we were all together. ❤️❤️❤️❤️.”
Her birthday was also just days after her daughter Gianna would have turned 14 years old, with Vanessa paying tribute to the late basketball prodigy with a photo and this loving message:
“Happy 14th Birthday to my sweet baby girl, Gianna. Mommy loves you more than I can ever show you,” Vanessa wrote at the time. “You are part of MY SOUL forever. I miss you so much everyday. I wish I could wake up and have you here with me. I miss your smile, your hugs and your giggles. I miss EVERYTHING about YOU, Gigi. I LOVE YOU so much!!!!!!!”
We continue to think of the Bryant family as they go through more of life’s tender moments without their beloved family members.
[Image via FayesVision/WENN/Vanessa Bryant/Instagram.]