Vanessa Bryant Opens Up In Rare Interview

It’s been over a year since the tragic passing of Kobe and Gianna Bryant. Vanessa Bryant has avoided media, but she recently sat down with PEOPLE for this week’s Women Changing the World issue.

Gracing the cover with Los Angeles Lakers gear, the 38-year-old opened up about dealing with such an immense loss, “I can’t say that I’m strong every day. I can’t say that there aren’t days when I feel like I can’t survive to the next.”

Bryant continued, “This pain is unimaginable [but] you just have to get up and push forward. Lying in bed crying isn’t going to change the fact that my family will never be the same again. But getting out of bed and pushing forward is going to make the day better for my girls and for me. So that’s what I do.”

RELATED: Vanessa Bryant Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Helicopter Company and Pilot

See Vanessa Bryant on the cover of PEOPLE below: 

Kobe and Gianna, along with seven other people, were killed on January 26, 2020 while taking a helicopter to the Mamba Academy for basketball practice in nearby Thousand Oaks.