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Vanessa Bryant Eulogizes her husband Kobe Bryant and Daughter Gigi

Vanessa Bryant



It was a somber bittersweet day in the Staples Center in Los Angeles when 20,000 mourners packed into the indoor stadium that the late NBA Player Kobe Bryant built to bid him and his 13-year old daughter Gianna farewell.

His widow Vanessa Bryant, a celebrity mom covered often on the blog, gave a heart breaking but still beautiful eulogy of her husband and daughter. As USA Today summarized in its coverage:

She mourned the loss of her “baby girl” Gianna, “a sweet and gentle soul” and preternaturally talented athlete who she said was destined for WNBA greatness. She remembered her husband as a soulful romantic with a “tender heart” and a “doting” father for whom family always came first.

“They were funny, happy, silly, and they loved life,” Vanessa said of Kobe and Gianna, adding: “God knew they couldn’t be on this earth without each other. He had to bring them home to heaven together.”

Beyonce Knowles Carter opened the event performing one of her hits, “XO” which she said was one of Kobe’s favorite song with lyrics that go, “In the darkest hour / I’ll search through the crowd / Your face is all I can see / I’ll give you everything.” She later burst into a soulful rendition of her song, “Halo

Alicia Keys moved the crowd by playing Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata,” a piece she said was favored by Kobe and Vanessa.

Keys had previously paid tribute to Kobe and Gianna on the night they died, performing “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye” alongside Boyz II Men at the Grammy Awards last month.

At various points throughout the event, the crowd broke out in chants of “Kobe! Kobe!”

Retired NBA stars Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade, and Tim Duncan along with entertainer Jennifer Lopez and her fiance retired baseball player Alex Rodriguez and late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel were all in attendance for the ceremony, along with other celebs like friends of the Bryant family Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West.

The date chosen for the memorial — Feb. 24, or 2/24/20 — is a combination of their jersey numbers. Gianna wore No. 2 and her dad wore No. 24 in the latter part of his 20-season career with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tickets went for variations of 2 and 4, $24.24 or $224 for two.

Several NBA legends like former teammates  Shaquille O’Neal and Jordon gave rousing speeches by my fave was by University of Oregon player Sabrina Ionesco who gave a wonderful speech and tribute to girls sports too in honor of GiGi .

Proceeds will go to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation which raises money to provide sports education and training services for young women. The foundation was originally established as the Mamba Sports Academy, but Bryant’s widow announced that the name was changed to honor their daughter.

Kobe Bryant gave himself the moniker “Black Mamba” after a character in the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill.

“Because there is no #24 without #2, we have updated the Mamba Sports Foundation to now be called the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation,” Vanessa Bryant wrote on her Instagram page announcing the name change.

The two were headed to a game during a basketball tournament at a sports arena in Thousand Oaks, California named for Mamba when the helicopter they were riding in crashed killing them along with Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, 56, his wife Keri Altobelli, 46, and their daughter Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Sarah Chester, 45, and her daughter Payton Chester, 13; as well as Mamba Sports Academy coach Christina Mauser, 38; and pilot Ara Zobayan, 50.

Also from a NBCNews report:

Bryant and his daughter were traveling to Gigi’s basketball game in a Sikorsky S-76B helicopter, when it crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, Calif., on Jan. 26. All eight passengers and the pilot were killed.

The Bryants were laid to rest in a private ceremony in Southern California on Feb. 7.

Before the public ceremony got underway, the Los Angeles Times reported Vanessa Bryant has filed a lawsuit against Island Express Helicopters, the company that operated the chopper. NPR later confirmed the lawsuit with the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board said in its investigative update this month that the chopper’s rotors were both powered and turning at the time of impact, which it said indicates “the engines showed no evidences of uncontained or catastrophic internal failure.”

Photos taken shortly after the crash show conditions were foggy in the hills above Calabasas, but as NPR’s Russell Lewis has reported, the final investigative findings are not expected for at least a year.

photos: Getty

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Trademarked Their Two Week Old

Kim Kardashian-West and Kanye West have trademarked their fourth child, son Pslam West‘s name for 70 businesses.

This all happened just 14-days into the newborn’s life. It’s not uncommon for the famous duo (or many celebrities these days, Beyonce and JayZ have trademarked their kids’ names).

However, for North, Saint and Chicago who were trademarked earlier this year, she hadn’t specified so many companies.

TMZ reported on Thursday that the savvy couple secured the bag by filing for the baby’s trademark at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on May 18 under Kardashian-West’s company, Kimsaprincess.

The product categories include: fashion and beauty sectors, baby goods, children’s clothing, jewelry, watches and skin care among others were included in the request.

Currently, Kardashian-West is studying to become a lawyer and plans to take bar exam in 2022. She and Ye also revealed that their family doctor Paul Crane, the same one who delivered Psalm’s bis sisters North and Chicago and big brother Saint delivered Psalm.

She and Kanye celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary yesterday, May 24th.

Big happy news all around for the family!

My Two Wrong Predictions About Baby West and Baby Sussex

Wrong and Wrong.

I speculated that perhaps Duchess Meghan of Sussex had given birth at home because she was not captured by photographers leaving her home or arriving.

However, last week, Kensington Palace revealed that the Suits actress, formerly Meghan Markle, gave birth.

Baby Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor  was born at Portland Hospital, a private hospital on Great Portland Street in London, a copy of the baby’s birth certificate revealed.

With the baby overdue and her somewhat advance maternal age at 36, a hospital was probably better in case of an emergency.

Also, I was wrong about the name Kim Kardashian and Kanye West would have given their newest child, a son, born via surrogate last week.

I and other speculators the baby would be named Robert for two reasons. One, Kim showed an image of the name Robert during a Snapchat and during a recent episode of her reality TV show Keeping Up With The Kardashian a psychic in Bali told Kim and Khloe Kardashian their dad, Robert Kardashian, would be reincarnated in her son.

The couple named the newest arrival Psalm which is a Hebrew word for song and is the name of one of the books in the Bible. A source to E! News told the site that Kanye chose the name “and is a representation of their spirituality.”

The sources explained, “it was a very important to him, and Kim wanted the name to have a significance that held a true representation of their family, so she agreed on the name.”

Nice!

Well, you can’t win them all!

This Reality TV Star Beat Kim Kardashian and Kanye West to Naming Their Son, Saint.

While reading about BravoTV‘s reality TV star of Southern Charm Kathryn Dennis‘ drama with her ex and co star Thomas Revenel, I learned that the couple actually beat Kim Kardashian and Kanye West to naming their son Saint.

Dennis and Revenel welcomed their second child together St. Julien Rember Ravenel on November 9, 2015 and the Wests’ first son Saint West was born a month later on December 5, 2015.

It was shocking for me to also learn that Dennis reconciled with Ravenel and decided to have a second child with him despite what she said he put her through. In a very recent interview with PEOPLE magazine in advance of the show’s Season 6 premiere, Dennis claimed Revenel sent her away to another city, forced her to hide her pregnancy and birth of their first child, a daughter.

Dennis had her baby girl Kensington Calhoun, now 5-years old, alone, sad and ostracized right after giving birth, she claimed.

“I was removed,” Dennis, told the celebrity and entertainment magazine. “He moved me immediately to a different state, kept my pregnancy a secret until the day I gave birth.”

Dennis was 22-years old at the time and Revenel, the son of former South Carolina Congressman Arthur Ravenel Jr., ran as an Independent candidate for the United States Senate that year.

I won’t say more as those two are in a bitter and contentious custody battle with explosive allegations about each other’s fitness to be a caregiver that you can read more about here.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Welcome 4th Child, via Surrogate

Congratulations to Kim Kardashian and Kanye West on the birth of their fourth child, via surrogate.

The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star confirmed the news on Twitter on Friday.

“He’s here and he’s perfect!” Kardashian West tweeted.

He’s here and he’s perfect!

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) May 10, 2019

He’s also Chicago’s twin lol I’m sure he will change a lot but now he looks just like her ✨

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) May 10, 2019

Congrats!

Kanye West’s Easter Service Attracted Over 50,000

Our Easter celebrity round up cannot be concluded without reporting on the sunrise Easter service Kanye West held during Coachella music festival.

According to TMZ‘s sources at the popular event, over 50,000 people attended to watch acts like Chance the Rapper, Donald Glover, Kid Cudi, DMX and our Bellyitch Bumpwatch alum Teyana Taylor perform alongside the controversial rapper, designer and now reality TV star.

When I was first into blogging and going to Blogging conferences, I attended a session at Blogging While Brown called the “What Yeezus Taught Us. As a fan of Mr. West, I found it intriguing to hear the two men on the panel talk about how they found the genius of Ye to be something they need to study and follow, almost religiously.

Some say Ye’s whole church service is sacrilegious. Similar was said of his popular song “Jesus Walks” and the contentious 2006 cover of Rolling Stone and the accompanying article called, “The Passion of Kanye West .” The man himself has said he has always wanted to start a church and is quoted often as considering himself religious.

In January, he famously tweeted: “We will change the world. God is on my side. I am a Christian. I am a tax payer. I am myself. God is with us,” he continued, adding, “2024.”

The arrogance one would need to compare himself or herself to a historic figure like Jesus Christ by dubbing oneself “Yeezus” is also the same type of Chutzpah or belief in one’s own hype to command $225 for a hoodie that says “Holy Spirit” and $50 for “Jesus Walks” socks at an event billed as a “service” and not a concert.

https://twitter.com/NigelDPresents/status/1120000723394203650

The services are not new and this mega one at Coachella is the latest in a series of religiously themed weekly concerts he has thrown at his home where where he remixes popular old songs into gospel versions and is backed by a choir that wears Yeezy sweats instead of traditional robes, The Cut reports.

Well they really are concerts cause I do not think there are any scripture readings or traditional sermons or homilies given. Fans loved it. It was a resounded success. Hate him or love him. Me personally, I’m tepid after his political stances and declaration that slavery was a choice, but I remain fascinated.

Here are some social media shares of the event:

Some have called it “cult like” but then again, as The Cut’s Mariah Smith put it so well:



Matthew 18:20 reads, ‘For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’ Which basically means that if you and your friends even bring God up in your small gathering or find a way to praise His name with one another, you’ve essentially stumbled your way into a church service.

There you go!

Weekend Bump Watch Round UP {Links}

It’s been awhile so it’s time to update you guys with what’s going on in the celebrity baby bumpwatch and kids world with a few links:

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West confirmed they are expecting their fourth child via surrogacy. (People)

Mario Lopez and his wife Courtney are expecting their third child after almost giving up (Celebrity Baby Scoop)

Jessica Simpson‘s contribution to the 10 Year Challenge featuring her pregnant swollen feet is hilarious (CelebrityInsider)

Behati Prinsloo shared she suffered Post partum depression after the birth of her first child (US Weekly)

Keisha Knight Pulliam‘s daughter turns 2 (BCK Online)

Chanel Iman‘s daughter Cali Clay is getting big and she’s doing the model baby prop posing thing new moms like the Kardashian/Jenners love to do (Instagram)

Celebrity 2018 Family Halloween Costumes That Rocked

Ok. Halloween was Wednesday but I say until the end of Daylight’s Savings Time, it’s open season for bloggers to share Halloween costumes and their fave costume posts before we launch into Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Holiday season posts.

So…Here is my list of fave celebrity Halloween costume photos featuring their families and children that they shared in social media.

First, our Bellyitch Bumpwatch alums, the celeb women whose pregnancies we’ve featured on this blog:

Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel and their son Silas went as the Lego version of Batman, Robyn and Harley Quinn!

Neil Patrick Harris and his fam usually do the best each year and this year was no different when they dressed as ghosts from the past.

Ciara and her fam dressed as characters from the Black Panther movie.

Khloe Kardashian and her daughter Tru dressed as Unicorns.

They also dressed as tigers.

Kylie Jenner and her daughter Stormi dressed as butterflies

They also dressed as “Stormi Weather”

Saint and North West and Penelope and Reign Dissick as Kanye West and Lil Pump  

Pink and son, Jameson were the cutest pirates during the week.

And later with the whole family as The Greats Showman on Earth!

Reese Witherspoon and her husband Jim Toth and youngest son dresses as ghoulish characters and her older son dresses as a rapper?

Alyssa Milano and her children dressed as Pokemon characters.

Hilaria Baldwin and her husband Alec Baldwin and their kids, Carmen, Rafael and Leonardo Baldwin are astronauts.

Bump Round Up: Lily Aldridge, Hilary Duff, April Geary and More (LINKS)

We stalk your fave expecting, new or vet celebrity parent so you don’t have to, so here is what they’re up to around the web:

Lily Aldridge  and husband Kings of Leon Caleb Followill are expecting their second child.(Celebrity Baby Scoop)

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West reportedly have one more embryo to possibly grow into a baby via iVF or surrogacy  (US Weekly)

Robin Thicke and his girlfriend April Geary are expecting their second child and she revealed she had a miscarriage too. (PEOPLE)

Hilary Duff is showing off her growing bump and anxiously awaiting the birth of her second child (Daily Mail)

Jesse Williams and his wife both lost their child support adjustment requests during a contentious post-divorce battle (BCK Online)

Bey and Jay Release Joint Album: Planned Blog Post Canceled!

I was going to blog about something totally different this afternoon, but you know how Beyonce releasing an album has a habit of throwing all of my plans in disarray. [See review of Beyonce projects here] and [here] She and her husband Shawn”Jay Z” Carter released a 9-track album called “Everything Is Love” smack dab in the middle of their On the Run II tour. [This is right after the Beychella performance which was right after Jay’s album “4:44” which was right after Bey’s “Lemonade”]

These two don’t want us to keep our coins in our own pockets this summer. Anyway, I digress…

Dee Locket of Vulture did an excellent job summing it up for me so I’ll syndicate her opening paragraph to an excellent review you can read in its entirety HERE:

Your weekend plans: Canceled. Yeezy season: Dismissed. Drake: Who? Beyoncé and Jay-Z have pulled a Beyoncé and Jay-Z and surprise-dropped yet another album — but this time, as a couple. Their first-ever joint album Everything Is Love — the one that’s been percolating since even before Lemonade and 4:44 — was released on Saturday evening at the end of the duo’s London show on their On the Run Tour II with one casual parting announcement: “Album Out Now.” Out! Now! The nine-song album, complete with one visual component and a bonus track, is streaming in full on Tidal as we speak. With their trilogy recounting marital strife to remarried bliss now complete, what do we make of this closing chapter? From the shots at Trump, the NFL, Spotify, the Grammys, and Kanye West, to the Blue Ivy cameo, to filming a music video in the Louvre, here’s everything you need to know about the conversation the Carters have caused now.

Phew! What an intro. Well, today is Father’s Day and before heading out to celebrate, while the men are busy watching World Cup games, I hopped on to pen a few thoughts.

First, I don’t have Tidal, where the album exists exclusively. Yes, they are still trying to make it happen, and even have gone as far as declare war on Spotify. No really, they mention the streaming competitor in one of the songs.  My subscription expired so my options are to re-up it to listen to the complete set or wait until it slowly releases on other platforms. le sigh.

I hear it’s getting mixed, but mainly good reviews. Because I have nothing to add substantively, I’ll share that I loved the only released-to-the-public video out: “Apeshit”.  Imagine! They rented out The Louvre in Paris, France for the video shoot! Wow!

 

The video for the song is a cinematic and visual treat. I love art. All art. Musical, visual, performing but especially art of yesteryear and religious art so it was a bonus to get to see flashes of famous pieces in the video.

And it is also a bit political. In the middle, there is an overt swipe at the anti-Take A Knee movement.

There is a lot to digest and there have already been publised a bevy or reviews. One thing I can offer that may not have been shared by others about “Apesh*t”  is some of  the similarities to other visual stimuli in other pieces.

Screeeeech!! Hold up, before I go there, I was also taken by the fact the song is Trap and besides both dropping some serious bars and Jay Z delivering an exceptionally good performance, he later gets side-graded (*is that a word?*) in my opinion to be to the sound effects emoting guy to Beyonce’s shine when it’s her turn to spit verses.

You know, like the guy Takeoff in the group Migos? ha!

Anyway, back to the visual similarities I spotted…

First, her sister Solange is famous for her love of dance and art combined. Her wedding reception took place at the New Orleans Museum of Art, and earlier this year, she unveiled a performance piece at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and performed her title song to her first Grammy-winning album “Cranes In the Sky” at the Guggenheim in New York City.

View this post on Instagram

"An ode to" 2017

A post shared by @ saintrecords on

And so her big sister went bigger.

The second similarity. The dancers in all brown reminded me of the all Brown clothing the dancers in Remy Ma (featuring Chris Brown) video “Melanin Magic.”

And finally, the album cover is of a woman braiding a man’s hair. It was reminiscent of Rihanna shaving dancer Mette Towley‘s  hair in the intro to N.E.R.D.’s song Lemon.

Art begets Art. There is nothing truly original anymore and everyone’s interpret, pay homage to and weave in aspects of previously done works.

What else did I spot?

I love that there is a shot in the video that is an ode to us Virgos! Beyonce is one too. I got this long lingering shot…

More visuals:

Beautiful! Bravo!

 

JJ

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