Kobe Bryant's Widow, Vanessa Bryant, Expresses 'Amor Eterno' On NBA Legend's 43rd Birthday

Kobe Bryant's widow, Vanessa, is celebrating what would have been her late husband's 43rd birthday sharing a message of "eternal love" with their fans.

The 'Los Angeles Lakers' star's wife took to Instagram and shared a photo of the couple kissing after one of the NBA team's championships. In the photo, Kobe is holding the NBA's Larry O'Brien Championship trophy and kissing his wife, with a newly printed hat announcing their victory.

"Happy birthday, Papi. Te Amo por siempre. Amor Eterno," Vanessa captioned the image. In English, it translates to "I love you forever. Eternal love."

As you can imagine, a host of celebrity friends and family flooded the IG post to pay their respects to the basketball icon. Singer Ciara and Mario Lopez's wife both commented with red heart emojis, and Kelly Roland and Lily Aldridge did the same. Gigi Hadid added her own hearts and one person wrote, "The greatest gift we can ever achieve in life “is to love and be loved by the one you love ?."

Kobe Bryant and his wife were married for over 20 years after first meeting on the set of a music video in 1999. At the time, the NBA star was 20 and Vanessa was 17. Kobe's daughter, Natalia, posted her own tribute to him with a picture of herself and her late father, with the message, "Happy Birthday Daddy."

It appears the family celebrated the occasion with a trip to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure park -- sharing photos on some of the theme park's rides. "Always with me," Vanessa posted on IG, along with a photo showing off bracelets that spell out her daughter's names. On Monday, Kobe's sister -- Sharia Washington -- shared several photos of the two of them from childhood. "8.23.2021 I should be texting you funny memes about getting old and gray and laughing at your smartass comebacks. Just one of your many talents ? We celebrate you today and every day as you continue to inspire so many people all around the world. Happy birthday, Bean! Thank you for always keeping real! Love you always!" she captioned the photos.

As you know, on Jan. 26, 2020, Kobe was killed along with his 13-year-old daughter and seven others after his helicopter crashed near Los Angeles.

A few of Kobe's friends and fellow NBA stars like Carmelo Anthony shared stories in the days leading up to his birthday. Melo described a friendly but intense interaction with the NBA icon, saying, "That was my moment where me and Kob became – before that we went to the Olympics. We became very close. But we became close on some disrespectful s---. You know Kob, he going into your neck. He elbowing you. I had my braids back then, too, so he touching my head. I’m like, ‘Don’t touch my head. Don’t touch me no more, dawg.’ He’s smirking. He’s throwing his little s--t elbows, and ’09 came, and it was like, I remember we hugged before the game, and he was like, ‘It’s war.’ I said, ‘It’s war. Let’s get it. It ain’t gonna be nothing easy,’"

Happy Birthday.