Today marked a special day for Kobe and Vanessa Bryant. Their relationship of two decades started on a November day when Kobe Bryant was a Los Angeles Lakers star. Her sweet throwback this time has hit everyone with fuzzy emotions that are pouring out in the comments section. Some of basketball’s best stars who idolized Bryant were the first to react.

November 27, 1999, was when it all began for the then Vanessa Laine. She met a young player on the Los Angeles Lakers and spent the next two decades with him. Vanessa Bryant shared a throwback on Monday writing, “24 years ago…. Day 1. #1999. 11/27/99,” on Instagram. It complemented a photograph of a 17-year-old Vanessa with Kobe Bryant.

The ‘Day 1′ refers to the official start of their relationship. Their wedding anniversary is on April 18. The couple’s famous friends were in the comments gushing over them. WNBA star, Sabrina Ionescu, a regular on Vanessa’s page, reacted with heart-eye emojis. Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young wrote an all-encompassing, “/// Kobe” with flame and heart emojis. Former NBA pro, Jamal Crawford, kept it simple with flame emojis. Carmelo Anthony’s ex, Lala, and Matt Barnes expressed their feelings in emojis too.

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Kim Kardashian, her mom Kris Jenner, Rachel Zoe, Kid Jay, and more famous people were in awe of this love story that started 24 years ago. The background of this photograph makes it even sweeter.

Kobe Bryant’s relationship with Vanessa

Bryant was already a celebrity after starting his NBA career in 1996. His fame brought him to the set of That Eastsidaz’s music video for “G’d up” in 1999. 17-year-old Vanessa was one of the featured models in the music video. Bryant would say in the future that she was the one from the moment he saw her on that set.

In 2013, Bryant would poke fun at his own failed music career when talking about meeting Vanessa on that set. The couple got engaged after Vanessa’s 18th birthday. They married on April 18, 2001, in California, in a quiet ceremony without Bryant’s family or Lakers teammates.

They almost separated and reconciled during an initially turbulent marriage. They remained together till Vanessa lost Kobe and their daughter, Gigi, in the helicopter crash in January 2020. She remembered him and their relationship once more on what would’ve been their 20th wedding anniversary. What did you think about this early Kobe-Vanessa throwback?

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