PHOTOSEllen DeGeneres Breaks Down In Tears Over Kobe Bryant During Monologue
Ellen DeGeneres is reminding fans to “celebrate life.” The television host broke down in tears during the Tuesday, January 28, taping of the The Ellen DeGeneres Show as she addressed the untimely passing of Kobe Bryant. The NBA superstar, 41, passed away on Ellen’s 62nd birthday on Sunday, January 26.
Ellen thanked her audience for attending the taping and said, “Today is Monday. Yesterday was Sunday and it happened to be my birthday and the Grammy Awards. I was nominated. I didn’t win. Not the point,” the talk show joked as she began to tear up. “Yesterday was a celebratory day and we got tragic news about Kobe Bryant and everything changed in a second.”
She continued, “That’s what I want to talk about: Life is short and it’s fragile. And we don’t know how many birthdays we have. We don’t have to have a birthday to celebrate. Just celebrate life.”
The Finding Dora star then urged her viewers to reach out to loved ones while they were still alive. “If you haven’t told someone you love them, do it now. Tell people you love them. Call your friends. Text your friends Hug them. Kiss them, be nice to the people at the DMV,” Ellen said.
Want OK! each day? Sign up here!
The Emmy Award winner thanked her audience, the show’s staff and her wife Portia de Rossi. “I know that I’m lucky to have a wife who loves me so much, even though I don’t have a Grammy. I get to come to work every single day with people who make me laugh. I love everybody I work with," she said.
On Sunday, January 26, Ellen also paid tribute to Kobe, 41, on Twitter. She wrote, “Like everyone, I’m stunned and saddened by the news about Kobe Bryant. My heart is broken for his wife and family.”
Kobe and his daughter Gianna were two of nine victims who were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday in Calabasas, California. Everyone on board was on their way to a youth basketball game in Thousand Oaks when the helicopter crashed amid foggy conditions and burst into flames. Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, Orange Coast College coach John Alotobelli, his wife Keri and daughter Alysaa, girls basketball coach Christina Mauser and pilot Ara Zobayan were also on board at the time of the incident. There were no survivors.
Kobe and Gianna, 13, are survived by Kobe’s wife Vanessa Bryant, and their daughters Natalia, Bianka, and Capri.
