Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez Get Emotional at Kobe and Gianna Bryant Memorial as Vanessa Bryant Took the Stage

The memorial service in honor of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, held on Monday at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, with many celebrities in attendance, including Jennifer Lopez and her partner, Alex Rodriguez, who cried during the service.

January 26, 2020, would go down in history as a sad day for American basketball and the world in general, following the helicopter crash that took the lives of NBA great, Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gigi, and seven others.

A memorial service in honor of the lost lives held yesterday at the Staples Center, Los Angeles. Among the many people who attended the ceremony were cute couple Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez.

The couple sat beside NBA commissioner Adam Silver and were pictured crying during the live broadcast of the service, which is understandable, given the circumstances surrounding the nine deaths and the families affected.

Some other big names in attendance include Michael Jordan, Dwayne Wade and his wife, Gabrielle Union, Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, and many more. Vanessa Bryant, Kobe's widow, spoke at the service and said:

"Kobe was the MVP of girl dads, or mvd. He always told the girls how beautiful and smart they are. He taught them how to be brave and how to keep pushing forward when things get tough."

Before Vanessa took to the stage, there was a performance by Beyoncé Knowles, followed by a video montage of Kobe Bryant's career. The now mother-of-three was welcomed on stage with a standing ovation.

Vanessa spoke about her late daughter's dream of playing in the WNBA, adding that Gigi would have been a difference-maker in women's basketball.

Jennifer Lopez also posted a heartfelt tribute to Kobe and Gigi on Instagram, just before the Memorial service began.

Vanessa also said that Gianna was motivated to change people's perception of women's sport and would have fought for equal pay between genders.

Jennifer Lopez was a close friend to Kobe Bryant, and apart from shedding tears during the ceremony, she also painted her nails uniquely with the numbers 2 and 24, commemorating Gigi and Kobe's team jersey numbers.

Jennifer Lopez also posted a heartfelt tribute to Kobe and Gigi on Instagram, just before the Memorial service began, posting the photo of her fingers as she held a white cup with a golden letter "J" written on it.

The photo showed her painted fingers, and in the caption to the post, she wrote, "24 & 2," adding purple and yellow heart emojis, the colors of the Los Angeles Lakers.

JLo's tribute comes a couple of weeks after she and Shakira honored Kobe's memory at the halftime show of the Super Bowl.

The iconic singers gave a graceful performance at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium, with a huge cross, as well as the purple and yellow colors illuminated on the field.