Vanessa Bryant pays tribute to her late husband Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna with new tattoo

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Vanessa Bryant has honoured her late husband Kobe Bryant and their daughter Gianna Bryant with a new tattoo.

Written in script on her arm, the tattoo reads “Mambacita”, which was Gianna’s nickname, inspired by Kobe Bryant’s own basketball court name “Black Mamba”.

NBA Champion Kobe and Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash in January last year while travelling to a girls basketball tournament at Bryant’s Mamba Academy in California.

Gianna, who was 13 years old at the time of the crash, was also an avid basketball player.

Vanessa documented the process of getting the tattoo in a series of posts on Instagram. In one post, she said that it took eight hours to decide on the font, while the tattoo itself took five minutes.

The new tribute follows Vanessa’s previous tattoos in honour of her husband and daughter, which include a message from Kobe on her shoulder and a message from Gianna on her wrist.

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The tattoos were all done by her regular artist Nikko Hurtado.

Kobe had filed a trademark for his daughter’s nickname “Mambacita” weeks before they died, in anticipation of her flourishing basketball career. The trademark would have allowed the name to be used on a sportswear clothing line including shirts, jerseys and hats.

In an interview with People magazine published earlier this month, Vanessa said she was focusing on “finding the light in darkness”.

The 38-year-old continued: “I guess the best way to describe it is that Kobe and Gigi motivate me to keep going.

“They inspire me to try harder and be better every day. Their love is unconditional and they motivate me in so many different ways.”