Vanessa Bryant Wishes Kobe A Happy 19th Anniversary

Today marks Vanessa Bryant’s first wedding anniversary since the death of her husband Kobe Bryant, and she paid tribute to her late partner with a touching Instagram post and a throwback photo that reminds us just how long the two have been in love.

“My king, my heart, my best friend. Happy 19th wedding anniversary baby,” she wrote alongside an old photo that showed a young Kobe giving Vanessa a kiss on the cheek as they cuddled on a couch. “I miss you so much. I wish you were here to hold me in your arms. I love you.”

The pic prompted comments from Vanessa’s celebrity pals, including Khloe Kardashian, who wrote, “I’m sending you all my love babe,” and LaLa Anthony, who commented, “Forever love. True love.”

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She also shared a throwback clip of an interview Kobe did with MTV News back in 2001, the year they got married, which Kobe answering the question “What made her the one?”

“She caught my heart,” Kobe says, grinning. “She’s a strong woman. She’s strong-willed,” he added, before saying he hoped they would soon become “cool-ass parents.”

The would welcome their first child, Natalia, two years later, and then three more children after that. Their second child, 13-year-old Gianna, died with her father in a fatal helicopter crash this past January that killed seven others.

Kobe and Vanessa met on the set of a music video in 1999, and fell in love shortly after their first date. They married two years later and today (April 18) would have been their 19th wedding anniversary.