Vanessa Bryant is mourning the loss of her husband and daughter.
On Sunday, Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna "Gigi" Bryant passed away in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif. The father-daughter duo were two of nine people who died in the crash. Now, Vanessa is paying tribute to her husband and daughter on her Instagram, which appears to have been made public. In honor of Kobe and Gigi, Vanessa has changed her profile photo to a picture of the Los Angeles Lakers legend and their daughter. In the photo, Gigi can be seen looking up at her father as they share an embrace.
Gigi shared her dad's passion for basketball and played for the Mamba Academy team. Kobe was the coach of the team and was believed to be traveling to Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks at the time of the crash.
The athlete previous shared the reason for taking helicopters from his home in Orange County, explaining in an interview with Alex Rodriguez that it gave him more time to spend with his family.
"Traffic started getting really, really bad," Kobe said during the interview for The Corp With A-Rod and Big Cat. "I was sitting in traffic and I wound up missing like a school play because I was sitting in traffic."
"This thing just kept mounting, and I had to figure out a way that I could still train and focus on the craft but still not compromise family time," Kobe explained. "So that's when I looked into helicopters and being able to get down and back in 15 minutes."
In addition to Gigi, Kobe and Vanessa are parents to Natalia Bryant, 17, Bianka Bryant, 3, and Capri Bryant, 7 months.
Kobe expressed in his interview with Alex Rodriguez how important it was for him to pick his daughters up from school. Since he was often on the road for basketball before his retirement, Kobe wanted to spend every minute he could with his kids.
He shared, "Every chance I get to see them and spend time with them, even if it's 20 minutes in the car, I want that."
Our thoughts are with the Bryant family and all of the families affected by this tragedy.