Vanessa Bryant shared a touching photo of her husband, Kobe Bryant, and the couple’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna , who were two of the nine people killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
In the sweet photo, which is now Vanessa’s profile picture on Instagram, Kobe is looking down and smiling at his daughter, while she looks up at him.
Vanessa was married to the retired NBA legend for more than 18 years. Their other children are Natalia, 17; Bianka, 3; and Capri, 8 months.
She hasn’t spoken publicly since the death of her husband and daughter were announced on Sunday.
Other victims of the crash included Orange Coast College head baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri, and one of their two daughters, Alyssa.
Christina Mauser, the top assistant coach at Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy, also died, along with Sarah Chester; her daughter, Payton Chester; and Bryant’s private pilot, Ara Zobayan.
In a recently resurfaced podcast interview with Alex Rodriguez, Bryant said that he began traveling by helicopter as a way to spend more time with his daughters.
“Traffic started getting really, really bad,” he said on the Barstool Sports podcast, “The Corp with A-Rod and Big Cat,” in December 2018. “And I was sitting in traffic and I wound up missing like a school play, because I was sitting in traffic.”
“I had to figure out a way where I could still train and focus on the craft but still not compromise family time,” he added. “So that’s when I looked into helicopters, to be able to get down and back in 15 minutes and that’s when it started.”