Gianna Bryant Biography

Gianna Bryant was born on May 1, 2006, in Los Angeles, California, USA, to Vanessa Laine Bryant and Kobe Bryant. She was raised alongside her sisters, Natalia, Bianka, and Capri. Her mother Vanessa worked as a model, while her father Kobe Bryant was a famous basketball player who won five NBA championships with the popular NBA team Los Angeles Lakers. As she grew up watching her father play basketball, Gianna developed an interest in the sport at a young age and wanted to follow in the footsteps of her famous father.

Gianna Bryant was enrolled at Harbor Day School, a private school in Newport Beach, California. She started playing competitive basketball at her school and soon became part of the school’s basketball team. She went on to become a popular and one of the most important players for her middle school basketball team. In 2011, she started playing basketball at the Mamba Sports Academy where she received training from her father. She started playing for the club Mamba Ballers at the U-10 level and stayed there until she reached the U-15 level in 2020. Gianna Bryant aspired to play college basketball for the University of Connecticut. However, fate had other plans.

Gianna Bryant was close to her father and enjoyed spending time with him. She often attended WNBA, UConn, and Los Angeles Lakers’ games along with her father. Kobe too was fond of Gianna and always spoke about how Gianna was a female version of him. On January 26, 2020, Gianna and her father boarded a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter at John Wayne Airport in California and started their journey toward Camarillo Airport to witness a basketball game at the Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks. Unfortunately, the helicopter crashed into one of the mountains in Calabasas, killing all nine occupants including Kobe and Gianna. The news of their tragic death spread like wildfire and was mourned by millions across the world. On February 5, 2020, Harbor Day School retired Gianna Bryant’s jersey number 2. Several fan pages were also created across social media platforms, honoring Gianna Bryant’s life.

Soon after, Vanessa Bryant filed a lawsuit against Island Express Helicopters, the company that owned the aircraft in the crash. According to the complaint, there were several irregularities on the part of the pilot which ultimately led to the tragic accident. Ara Zobayan, the one piloting the craft, had failed to properly assess the weather conditions and had also proved incapable of aborting the flight even after learning of cloudy conditions. It also came to light that Zobayan had previously received disciplinary action for violating the visual flight rule minimums. In 2021, the lawsuit was settled between Vanessa and Island Express Helicopters for an undisclosed amount.