Kobe Bryant’s daughter Natalia Bryant organizes stunning event to celebrate her roots during Hispanic Heritage Month
Natalia Bryant, a daughter of Kobe Bryant, and her mother, Vanessa Bryant, are both enjoying Hispanic Heritage Month. On Friday, the pair planned an event where they displayed paintings of Mexican art while using models who were costumed in Mexican garb.
Given that Natalia’s mother, Vanessa, is Mexican and has discussed being both black and Mexican, this is not the first time Natalia has celebrated her Hispanic heritage.
“I’m biracial. When I was younger, I didn’t really understand… how I’m both. As I got older, I was able to understand,” Natalia Bryant told Teen Vogue back in 2021.
Natalia Bryant also disclosed that her mother, Vanessa, chose Diamante as her middle name.
“My mother chose my name. “Diamante in Spanish means diamond, and Nani, my nickname, means beautiful in Hawaiian,” she told Teen Vogue.
Natalia Bryant, who is currently a film student at the University of South California, has previously spoken about her choice to pursue modeling rather than her former passion of playing volleyball.
“I love the sport. I quit volleyball after the fatal accident because I was so … a lot was going on at that time. I knew I didn’t… love volleyball as much as they love basketball. I’m okay with that,” Natalia Bryant told Teen Vogue.
The late Kobe Bryant wanted to study Spanish for what reason?
The late Kobe Bryant was fluent in Italian in addition to English, and he also picked up Spanish. He tried to forge a connection with his Latino followers in Los Angeles as well as with his wife Vanessa, who is Mexican, as we already said.
“My Latino supporters are incredibly important to me since they were the ones that welcomed me to the Lakers the most when I got there… The five-time NBA champion and great promised in a 2016 post-game interview that he would learn some Spanish in two or three years.
Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant’s good friend and former teammate, claimed that their relationship began as a result of the latter speaking Spanish to him when they were both playing for the Lakers (2009, 2010), during which time they both won two titles.
Once, Gasol said to ESPN’s Omar Raja:
After the first game, he immediately began speaking Spanish on our plays and coverages. It excelled. Even though I knew he spoke pretty good Italian since he spent a lot of time there when his father played there when he was little, I clearly didn’t anticipate it at first. But since he was married to Vanessa, who is fluent in Spanish, he undoubtedly picked up certain things. He was excellent, and throughout our early years, we did talk a lot of Spanish so that the opposition couldn’t understand us. They would call attention to it and ask, “What are you guys talking about?”
“It was pretty funny. … It created that bond and that relationship from the get-go, and he set the tone.”
Natalia Bryant’s remarks suggest that Kobe Bryant and his family are proud of their Hispanic origin.
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