Entertainment
Vanessa Bryant reveals she learned of Kobe and Gianna’s deaths through phone notifications saying ‘RIP’
Vanessa says her life will ‘never be the same’ without husband Kobe and daughter Gigi (Picture: Getty Images)
Vanessa Bryant has shared her heartbreak after reportedly learning about husband Kobe and daughter Gianna’s deaths via notifications on her mobile phone.
LA Lakers legend Kobe, 41, and 13-year-old daughter Gianna died in January 2020 in a helicopter crash that also claimed the lives of seven others in Calabasas, California.
Kobe’s widow has since filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County to sue over allegations that deputies shared graphic photos of the crash scene, including Kobe and Gianna’s bodies.
During a deposition, a county attorney asked Vanessa, 39, was asked when she was first made aware of the crash. She revealed it was at 11:30am when her assistant arrived at her house, almost two hours after the incident which occurred at around 9:45am.
According to a transcript obtained by USA Today, Vanessa said during the Zoom hearing on October 12: ‘She told me that there was an accident and that there were five survivors. And I asked her if Gianna and Kobe were okay. And she said she wasn’t sure. She didn’t know.’
Vanessa assumed Kobe and Gianna were among the five reported survivors but this was quickly deemed not true as all nine passengers were killed instantly upon impact.
Kobe, Gianna, and seven others were killed in the crash (Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
As she tried to call her husband, she saw a growing number of notifications on her phone saying ‘RIP Kobe’.
Hours later, Sheriff Alex Villanueva confirmed that Vanessa’s husband and daughter had died in the crash. After learning they had died, the mum-of-four reportedly asked the sheriff to keep the crash scene private.
Vanessa rushed to an airport to try and board a helicopter to the scene but was told the weather conditions weren’t safe to fly. She was able to get hold of some of the clothes Kobe and Gianna were wearing to prevent others from taking photos of them.
Vanessa has filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County (Picture: Getty Images)
According to the New York Times, she said during the hearing: ‘They suffered a lot. And if their clothes represent the condition of their bodies, I cannot imagine how someone could be so callous and have no regard for them or their friends and just share the images as if they were animals on the street.
‘The impact of the helicopter crash was so damaging, I just don’t understand how someone can have no regard for life and compassion, and, instead, choose to take that opportunity to photograph lifeless and helpless individuals for their own sick amusement.
‘My life will never be the same without my husband and daughter.’
The federal lawsuit argues that first responders, including firefighters and sheriff’s deputies, shared photos of Kobe’s body with a bartender and passed around ‘gratuitous photos of the dead children, parents and coaches’.
In the suit, Vanessa states that she has experienced ‘severe emotional distress’ that has compounded the trauma of losing her loved ones.
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Los Angeles County argues that, while the conduct was inappropriate, showing a photo to one member of the public does not constitute invasion of privacy. The county also said that the photos were not shared with the media or posted on the internet, and therefore were ‘not publicly disseminated’.
Kobe and Gianna are survived by Vanessa and her three other children with the NBA legend; Natalia, 17, Bianka, four, and Capri, two.
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