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Vanessa Bryant Reveals How She Learned About Kobe and Gianna’s Passing

SGKing

December 4, 2009; Vanessa Bryant after Kobe Bryant of the Lakers scores the game winning shot. The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat by the final score of 108-107 at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, CA.

While the entire world was initially hearing about Kobe Bryant’s tragic helicopter crash, his wife was just like the rest of us, learning of the tragic news on the fly.  Bryant was being questioned by a lawyer defending Los Angeles County in her lawsuit about the sharing of photos of human remains from the helicopter crash that killed nine people.

In Vanessa’s testimony, which was given via Zoom on Oct. 12, Bryant said around 11:30 a.m. PT on Jan. 26, 2020, a family assistant knocked on the door and told her “there was an accident and that there were five survivors.”

The helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and Gianna, along with seven others, occurred at approximately 10 a.m. local time that day.

“I asked her if Gianna and Kobe were okay. And she said she wasn’t sure. She didn’t know,” per the deposition, a written copy of which was obtained by the New York Times.

Vanessa immediately  tried calling her husband and was unable to get through, so she then called her mother and asked her to come watch her youngest daughters, Bianca and Capris.

As soon as I was on the phone with my mom, I was holding onto my phone, because obviously I was trying to call my husband back, and all these notifications started popping up on my phone, saying ‘RIP Kobe . RIP Kobe. RIP Kobe.’”

When Vanessa Bryant couldn’t get through to her husband, she said she left to pick up her daughter Natalia from an ACT prep class.

“I told her that Daddy and Gigi were in an accident,” Bryant said. “Not to worry I’m sure they’re fine because there’s five survivors. And I’m sure Daddy and Gigi are fine. I just felt, I knew that they would be helping people.”

This story is heartbreaking. Everyone who loved Kobe was shocked, can’t imagine what was racing through Vanessa’s head. RIP Mamba, Mambacita.

You can read the entire deposition by clicking here.

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