Now that Natalia Bryant has gotten into her dream school, her family is making sure Kobe Bryant will be with his daughter "every step of the way."
The oldest child of the late NBA legend celebrated being accepted to the University of Southern California earlier this week with an ecstatic moment with her family and a custom pair of her dad's signature Nikes.
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"See You Soon @uscedu !❤️💛Fight On✌🏽" she wrote on Instagram next to a photo of herself in USC gear.
Her mother, Vanessa Bryant, shared a sweet video of Natalia, 18, jumping up and down after being accepted. Her joyous moment came about 14 months after Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna, 13, were killed in a helicopter crash.
"Tears of joy. I’m SO happy for you Nani!" Vanessa Bryant wrote on Instagram. "I know daddy is so PROUD OF YOU. I am so PROUD OF YOU!! Your hard work and dedication was so worth it. You pushed through the most excruciating pain imaginable and you succeeded. I wish Daddy and Gigi were physically here to celebrate but I know they’re here in spirit. We love you so much!"
Vanessa Bryant also showed off the custom kicks she got Natalia to mark her acceptance, posting a photo on Instagram of a pair of Kobe's signature shoes in the USC colors of cardinal and gold.
"Every step of the way," she wrote.
She also posted a video of Natalia celebrating with younger sisters Bianka, 4, and Capri, 1.
"Congratulations Nani Banani!!!!!!" Vanessa Bryant wrote on Instagram. "If you wouldn’t have been accepted I would’ve had to have stabbed these balloons in the guest room and have thrown all this away. 😩😩 Thank goodness you got in 😃❤️🤞🏽 I had these shoes made for @nataliabryant in hopes she’d get in to her top school.🤞🏽Daddy and Gigi are ALWAYS here. Forever and always Principessa."
Kobe Bryant leaped straight from high school to the NBA so he never had the college experience, but he has a connection to USC. He spoke at the school's Bovard Auditorium in 2018 in an event hosted by USC's Performance Science Institute, talking about the grit and passion that made him a basketball great and later an Oscar winner.