Almost a year after the tragic passing of her late husband and daughter, Vanessa Bryant spoke on Kobe Bryant and Gianna for the TIME 2020 Person of the Year in Memoriam.
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Vanessa made the comments during NBC’s primetime special on Thursday night, which also featured the announcement of the TIME Person of the Year. She described the depth of grief felt not just by her family but others around the world.
“Words cannot do justice to the grief we felt this year. At every level of human connection from across the world to across the table, we experienced profound loss,” Vanessa shared during the in Memoriam presentation. “We said goodbye to husbands, daughters, wives, sons, grandparents, friends and national heroes. And we continue to count the lives surrendered to this cruel pandemic, which has claimed well over a million souls, worldwide. Tonight, we mourn the people we all knew and the many we never will. May our collective grief unite us on the path forward.”
In addition to remarks from Vanessa, the television program’s in Memoriam featured a stunning rendition of Over the Rainbow from the highly acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma and classical pianist Kathryn Stott. Kobe and Gianna were the first people honored in the stirring tribute, which also highlighted the passing of Chadwick Boseman, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, John Lewis, and more.
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The tribute also featured a voiceover from the late Kobe of him saying, “Everything is a game seven. When you approach every practice, every game with that kind of mentality, it bleeds into the rest of the guys,”
Kobe and his daughter Gianna passed away on January 26 in a devastating helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, along with seven others. Kobe is survived by his wife Vanessa, and their daughters Natalia, Bianka, and Capri.
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