Russell Wilson Honors Kobe Bryant's 'Girl Dad' Comments With Set of Photos Alongside 2-Year-Old Sienna Princess

Russell Wilson is celebrating being a 'girl dad' following Kobe Bryant's death in a helicopter [...]

By Allison Schonter

Russell Wilson is celebrating being a "girl dad" following Kobe Bryant's death in a helicopter crash over the weekend. After ESPN SportsCenter anchor Elle Duncan's tribute to the late NBA player, in which she remembered him as being a proud "girl dad," went viral, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback joined the growing number of celebrities honoring Bryant and his influence as a father.

Using the now-trending "Girl Dad" hashtag, Wilson shared a series of photos of himself and 2-year-old daughter Sienna Princess Wilson, whom he shares with Ciara, the father-daughter-duo sweetly smiling at one another and making silly faces.

Wilson's tweet came in response to the growing number of people paying tribute to Bryant and the eight other passengers aboard the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter that crashed in the hills of Calabasas, California as it traveled to a Mamba Sports Academy basketball game. Three of the team's players – Gianna Bryant, Alyssa Altobelli, and Payton Chester – died in the crash.

In her own tribute, aired live, Duncan recalled the one and only time she met Bryant and the lasting impact his words had. Meeting him backstage at an ESPN event in New York, Duncan's efforts to get a picture with Bryant soon turned into a conversation about being parents to girls once the basketball legend noticed her baby bump.

"'Girls are the best,'" Duncan recalled Bryant saying. "I asked him for advice on raising girls, seeing as he had three at the time. He said, 'Just be grateful that you are being given that gift because girls are amazing.'"

Duncan went on to say that she asked Bryant if he and his wife Vanessa wanted more children. Bryant told her that "Vanessa wanted to try again for a boy, but was jokingly concerned it would be a girl." Bryant added that "'I would have five more girls if I could. I'm a girl dad.'"

"When it came to sports, he said that his oldest daughter was an accomplished volleyball player and that his youngest was a toddler, so to be determined," she said. "But that middle one, he said 'That middle one is a monster, she's a beast. She is better than I was at her age, she's got it.'"

"That middle one, of course, was GiGi," Duncan continued. "When I reflect on this tragedy and the half hour I spent with Kobe Bryant two years ago, I suppose that the only small source of comfort for me is knowing that he died doing what he loved most: Being a dad. Being a girl dad."

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