The costume designer for “The Notebook” has spoken out in response to Vanessa Bryant’s emotional eulogy for her late husband, Kobe Bryant, revealing that the NBA legend had to have been very “determined” in order to gift his wife items from the film’s set.
Earlier this week, Vanessa spoke during a special memorial ceremony hosted by the Los Angeles Lakers and the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation. She honored Kobe and her daughter, Gianna, who both died last month in a tragic helicopter crash, with a heartfelt speech describing the pair’s legacies.
In one anecdote Vanessa shared about Kobe, she said that he gifted her the blue dress Rachel McAdams’ character, Allie Hamilton, wears in the 2004 film, as well as the prop notebook. (Vanessa shared images of the dress in an Instagram post from 2013.)
Kobe apparently told her that he gifted her the dress because McAdams’ character wore the dress in a scene when she came back to her love, Noah.
“We had hoped to grow old together like the movie. We really had an amazing love story,” said Vanessa in her speech.
In response to the speech, costume designer Karyn Wagner told The Hollywood Reporter this week that she had “zero idea” where the dress ended up and that she was “bawling” when she heard what Vanessa said.
“I’m still drying the tears off my face. What a beautiful eulogy. I’m so honored that I was able to contribute in some small way to the history of this amazing man,” said Wagner.
Also this week, Wagner revealed to Access Hollywood that she didn’t “know how Kobe even tracked this dress down.”
“He has to have spent a lot of time and a lot of effort. He was that good and he was that determined to show his wife how much he loved her,” she told the publication.