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Vanessa Bryant and her oldest daughter, Natalia Bryant , are paying tribute to the fallen members of their close-knit family.
On Tuesday, the mother of four took to Instagram to share the process of receiving her latest tattoo--which took eight hours...even though that ink itself only ended up taking about five minutes. She even brought her 18-year-old daughter along, who got multiple tattoos in honor of her dad and baby sister.
These tributes come a little over a year after Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant, were killed in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles. Ever since that tragedy in January 2020, it seems like Vanessa and Natalia have only grown closer, constantly posting their bonding onto Instagram and showing off their precious mother/daughter friendship.
Done by tattoo artist Nikko Hurtado, Vanessa was stamped with the word “Mambacita” on her arm, an homage to Gianna’s nickname (which is an homage to her dad’s famous “Mamba” nickname). She shared a few photos and videos of the design and tattoo process on social media, revealing that it took her and Hurtado eight hours to decide on what font to use for the tribute.
Bryant posted one video joking with Nikko about her tattoos being “Vato style,” pointing out that she prefers all of her ink be done with a single needle.
“All my tatts are single needle to keep the lines clean)...jokingly referred to as “vato style” in this video since I’m still using this older historical process,” she wrote in her caption. “This style is not really called “vato style” (for you LITERAL headline writing folks).... It’s referred to as Single Needle🪡 🤦🏻♀️.”
She continued, “First tatt of the night done.... 8 hours to decide on the font 🙃😁 @nikkohurtado #Mambacita ❤️🦋 Thank you @bjbetts for collaborating with Nikko on my font! Tatt took 5 mins. ❤️”
Natalia also got some new ink, paying tribute to her late father by getting the word “muse” tattooed on her finger. This is a tribute to a Gotham Chopra-directed documentary titled Kobe Bryant’s Muse from 2015.
She also looked to be getting some sort of flower etched onto her wrist in one of Vanessa’s videos, though neither of them have posted the final results.
This isn’t the first time Vanessa has honored her family by getting a tattoo, writing all of her family member’s names across the top of her foot a few months after the helicopter crash.