FILE – In this March 2, 2019, file photo Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna watch the first half of an NCAA college basketball game between Connecticut and Houston in Storrs, Conn. A public memorial service for Bryant, Gianna and seven others killed in a helicopter crash is planned for Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, a person with knowledge of the details told The Associated Press on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
LOS ANGELES — Vanessa Bryant expressed grief and anger in an Instagram post Monday as she copes with the deaths of her husband Kobe Bryant, their daughter Gigi and seven other people in a helicopter crash last month.
“My brain refuses to accept that both Kobe and Gigi are gone,” she wrote. “It’s like I’m trying to process Kobe being gone but my body refuses to accept my Gigi will never come back to me. It feels wrong. Why should I be able to wake up another day when my baby girl isn’t being able to have that opportunity?! I’m so mad. She had so much life to live.”
Bryant said she realizes she has to remain strong for her three surviving daughters, Natalia, Bianka and Capri.
The social media post included a video feature from Slam Magazine about Kobe Bryant coaching their daughter Gianna’s basketball team.
Bryant was killed when the helicopter carrying him, his daughter and seven others crashed into a mountainside in Calabasas, California, while flying to a girls basketball tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy on Jan. 26.
A public memorial for Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and daughter Alyssa was scheduled Monday. Also killed in the crash were pilot Ara Zobayan and Bryant friends Christina Mauser, Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton.
Bryant announced last week that a “celebration of life” memorial will be held on Feb. 24 at the Staples Center to honor her late husband and 13-year-old Gianna.