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Vanessa Bryant has had a harder year than most people could ever imagine, so when she gets a reason to celebrate, she deserves to do it big.
Everyone who knows the Bryant family knows just how much they all love Disneyland, so it’s only right the Los Angeles native ring in her 39th birthday at the happiest place on earth--which just opened back up after months of being closed due to the pandemic.
After spending a full day at the park with her three daughters--Natalia Bryant, 18, Bianka Bryant, 4, and Capri Bryant, 1--Vanessa posted a photo of herself in front of the Magic Castle. She made sure to keep the memory of her late daughter, Gianna Bryant, alive as she donned a Mambacita sweatshirt, which just released last week on what would have been the basketball star’s 15th birthday.
In the comments section, thousands of fans and fellow celebs wished the mama a happy birthday, including Viola Davis, Olivia Munn, and Zoe Saldana. She also received birthday messages from Beyoncé, Khloé Kardashian, Rachel Zoe, and more.
On Saturday, just a few days before her own birthday, V honored her late daughter’s Quinceañera with a heartfelt post.
“Dear Gianna, Happy 15th Birthday! ❤️😘I love you!” Vanessa as she shared a throwback shot of the pair smiling while hugging one another. “I miss you everyday! I wish you were here with us. There are no words to express how much I miss you. I love you Mamacita!”
Bryant spoke to PEOPLE recently about her grief following the loss of her daughter Gigi and her husband, Kobe Bryant, who were killed in a helicopter crash alongside seven others in January 2020.
“I can’t say that I’m strong every day,” she told the magazine back in March. “I can’t say that there aren’t days when I feel like I can’t survive to the next.”
“This pain is unimaginable [but] you just have to get up and push forward,” Vanessa continued. “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.”
