Photo: Vanessa Bryant Instagram
Paul Gasolis teachingVanessaandKobe Bryant’s daughters some basketball skills.
Other images show the 41-year-old retired basketball player sweetly lifting Bianka into the air so the little one can practice her shot. In thecaptionof one post, Vanessa, 39, fondly refers to Gasol as “Uncle” and writes “Kobe’s Principessas” overanother.
Vanessa Bryant Instagram
Since Kobe’s untimely death in the January 2020 helicopter crash that also killed his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, Gasol has been a source of emotional support for Kobe’s wife, Vanessa, and their three daughters,Natalia, 18, Bianka and Capri.
Gasol and McDonnell even named their daughter “Elisabet Gianna Gasol” in memory of Kobe and Vanessa’s late daughter.
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In hisrecent documentaryPau Gasol: It’s About the Journey,which premiered Nov. 12, the retired athlete tearfully spoke about the Bryant family just days after the fatal accident.
“He used to tell me, ‘I’ll send you my daughters so you can teach them about culture, awareness, things. And you send me your sons and I’ll teach them to be tough, to fight, to work and go for it.’ Well, I’ll try to be there for his daughters,” Gasol said in footage from Jan. 29, 2020.
“The eldest, Natalia, is practically a woman, and his two little girls had practically no chance to get to know him. It’s a very tough moment to come to grips with, to absorb, to accept,” he added.
Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol.
Gasol also opened up about learning of Kobe’s death to theLos Angeles Timesin February 2020, saying: “I just started crying, it was hard to find words, I couldn’t talk to anyone for days.”
“I basically didn’t leave the house,” he added.
Although he was grief-stricken, Gasol said heimmediately connectedwith Vanessa, to let her know she had his support.
“I couldn’t imagine the pain she was going through, because if I was struggling, her loss was plural. I couldn’t even think of what that felt like, and I wouldn’t know what to say,” Gasol told the newspaper. “At the end of the day, that’s what I consider us to be, family.”
source: people.com
