Vanessa Bryant Posted A Touching Tribute Dedicated To Kobe For Father's Day

    "Happy Father's Day to the BEST daddy in the world."

    Ben Henry
    by Ben Henry

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Vanessa Bryant shared a touching tribute to Kobe on the first Father's Day since his death, posting a picture of him alongside his four daughters.

    Harry How / Getty Images

    Back in January, Kobe and the couple's 13-year-old daughter Gigi were killed in a devastating helicopter crash that also claimed the lives of seven other people.

    Ethan Miller / Getty Images

    At the time, Vanessa said that she and her daughters were "completely devastated by the sudden loss" and thanked fans for their support and prayers.

    Frederic J. Brown / Getty Images

    "My girls and I want to thank the millions of people who've shown support and love during this horrific time," she said in an Instagram post. "Thank you for all the prayers. We definitely need them. We are completely devastated by the sudden loss of my adoring husband, Kobe — the amazing father of our children; and my beautiful, sweet Gianna — a loving, thoughtful, and wonderful daughter, and amazing sister to Natalia, Bianka, and Capri."

    Vanessa also changed her Instagram profile picture to one of Kobe and Gigi embracing at a basketball game in 2016 before eventually turning her account private.

    Elsa / Getty Images

    On Sunday, Vanessa marked the family's first Father's Day without Kobe and Gigi with a touching tribute, calling the late athlete the "best daddy in the world".

    Instagram: @vanessabryant

    "Happy Father's Day to the BEST daddy in the world," the caption read. "We miss you so much. We love you forever and always. Love, Nani, Gigi, BB, Koko and VB."

    On Saturday, Vanessa also posted a tribute to daughter Capri, who celebrated her first birthday. In an Instagram caption, Vanessa further revealed that she was named after Kobe.

    Instagram: @vanessabryant

    "Happy 1st Birthday Capri! Mommy, Daddy, Nani, Gigi and BB love you SO much!!!" Vanessa wrote. "God Bless you sweet princess. Capri Kobe Bryant a.k.a. 'Koko-Bean' named after her dearly missed daddy, Kobe Bean Bryant ❤️ We miss you SO much Gigi and Daddy."

    Last week, Vanessa and the couple's eldest daughter, 17-year-old Natalia, revealed that they'd had to block fan accounts of Kobe in order to heal and avoid seeing a constant onslaught of family pictures.

    Maxx Wolfson / Getty Images

    Posting a message to her Instagram story, Vanessa wrote: "@NataliaBryant and I have unfortunately had to block fan pages because it's been really hard to go online and constantly see pics of our beloved Gigi and Kobe under every single square of our explore pages."

    Instagram: @vanessabryant

    "Blocking the fan pages has helped change the algorithm," she continued. "We 💜 you all, but please understand that we had to do this for our own healing, not because we don't appreciate your 💜."

    Natalia posted a similar message, noting that she'd followed in her mom's steps and made her Instagram account private.

    Instagram: @nataliabryant

    "Thank you all so much for all the love and support," she said on her own Instagram story. "Many of you may have noticed the recent switch to a private account. My mom and I have had to unfortunately block fan pages because they keep reposting our pics. This makes it 10x harder to deal with our loss."

    The teenager added: "We hope that people understand that although these fan pages have good intentions, they make moving forward harder since they are constant reminders."