PHOTOSHeartbreaking Update: Vanessa Bryant Returns To Instagram For The First Time Since Kobe Bryant & Gigi Bryant's Deaths
Jan. 29 2020, Updated 6:26 p.m. ET
Vanessa Bryant returned to Instagram on Wednesday, January 29 and changed her profile pic to a heartbreaking photo of Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna Bryant. She switched her account to private in the wake of Kobe and Gianna's deaths on Sunday, January 26 but has since returned to being public.
In the photo, Gianna is captured gazing up at her father with her arms around his neck at a basketball game. Vanessa also turned off the comments feature on her past posts.
Vanessa has yet to break her silence about Kobe and Gianna's passing, and is reportedly struggling to stay strong for her surviving children Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and Capri, 7 months.
"It’s an extremely difficult and devastating time for Vanessa and the whole family. She can hardly keep it together. She can’t finish a sentence without crying. But she is working very hard to pull it together for the other girls. She now has to be the strong one," a source told People.
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The source continued, "Of course, you can never be prepared for this. Despite their ups and downs, Vanessa and Kobe were soulmates. She thought of him as her partner for life. Vanessa is surrounded by people who love her and love Kobe. She has a good support system. She is relying on her faith. She is not alone. But she will be grieving this for a very long time."
Officials announced that they had positively identified the bodies of Kobe, John Altobelli, Sarah Chester, and pilot Ara Zobayan through the use of fingerprints on Tuesday, January 29. Gianna and four others have yet to be identified, but all 9 victims from the fatal flight were recovered from the crash site and the investigation is ongoing.
Kobe's former teammate and close friend Shaquille O'Neal fought back tears as he paid tribute to the late Lakers legend on the Inside The NBA special on TNT on Tuesday night. "Lost two grandmothers, lost a father, lost my sister ... and now I lost a little brother,” he said. He also revealed that when his son first told him the news, he thought it was a hoax.
Funeral arrangements and memorial plans for Kobe and Gianna have yet to be announced.
