Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant‘s widow, shared a touching Instagram photo of her oldest daughter, Natalia, standing in front of a mural depicting second-oldest Bryant girl, Gianna, and her father, both of whom died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26.
Simply captioned, “❤️my babies. Natalia. #winterformal #together #family” the image, seen below, shows 17-year-old Natalia wearing a blue dress with white dots. She poses in front of a larger-than-life wall painting that shows Kobe kissing Gianna’s head with a halo over them both.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9fQ8bWjxyA/
The post currently has 4.5 million likes and more than 56,000 comments.
The mural copies a photograph of the father and daughter, taken courtside at the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Atlanta Hawks game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Nov. 17, 2019. The image was also used during a Feb. 16 tribute to Kobe and Gianna that took place at the NBA All-Star game.
TMZ says it isn’t sure where the mural is located, as this doesn’t seem to be one of the known artworks that have popped up in the wake of the basketball star’s death.
Besides Natalia and the late Gianna, Kobe and Vanessa have two other daughters, Bianka, 3, and Capri, 8 months.
Many Instagram commenters remarked on the resemblance between Natalia and her mother in the post of the eldest Bryant girl heading to her winter formal.
Vanessa Bryant seems to have loved that particular courtside cuddle between Kobe and Gianna, as she posted two different images from that November Lakers game.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4_hrbaDIk3/
In the second post, she called them “twins.”
Not long before his death, Kobe shared an image of Natalia in a similar dressed-up pose.
“Happy Birthday my baby,” he wrote on Instagram on Jan. 19 along with a photo of Natalia in a red dress. “I love you beyond measure. You will always be my little Principessa #17.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7gYqs8HxhK/
Kobe and Gianna would pass away one week later.
What a bittersweet way of including departed family members in a milestone event!