Tess Davidson, the girlfriend of the late helicopter pilot Ara Zobayan, is reportedly heartbroken by the crash that killed him, along with Kobe Bryant and seven others. Davidson was in a relationship with Zobayan for 11 years, and a friend has now discussed her emotional state with The Daily Mail. The friend said that Davidson will “never be over” this tragedy.
Davidson’s friend Jesse Clark spoke to reporters about Davidson’s current mental state amid the highly publicized tragedy. He explained that Zobayan was not just a devoted boyfriend, but “every bit an adoptive father” to Davidson’s two sons.
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Clark said that while 50-year-old Zobayan and 47-year-old Davidson were not married, their relationship was “everything that a married couple is.” He said that their love was a once-in-a-lifetime thing for both of them.
“Tess will never be over it. That was the impact he had on her life,” Clark said. “He loved Tess beyond measure. That’s the saddest part.”
Even outside of his relationship to Davidson, Clark admired Zobayan. He said that many friends and family members are in shock and mourning over his abrupt loss. Clark compared Zobayan to Bryant himself, saying he was “no different than Kobe” in his demeanor as a “put-a-smile-on-your-face kind of guy.”
“Anybody that Ara touched in their life, I guarantee that they are suffering too,” Clark said. “He was every bit of an example of a man I would hope to be at his age. He’s just the kind of guy you wish the world was infected with.”
Clark and his wife, Deborah, flew from their home in Oregon to Los Angeles to help care for Davidson during this time of extreme grief. At 38 years old, Clark considered the 50-year-old Zobayan a kind of role model.
Zobayan was piloting a Sikorsky S-76B helicopter from Orange County to Los Angeles, California, at the time of the tragic crash on Sunday, Jan. 26. Experts said that conditions were poor to begin with, and Zobayan encountered a patch of dense fog over the mountainous terrain of southern California.
The crash also killed41-year-old Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. They were traveling to his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, where Gianna was meant to play in a basketball tournament that day. With them and Zobayan were Gianna’s teammates, Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester; Alyssa’s parents, college baseball coach John Altobelli and Keri Altobelli; Payton’s mother, Sarah Chester; and girls basketball coach Christina Mauser.
The world of sports continues to mourn this unthinkable tragedy.
