Vanessa Bryant Pays Tribute to Kobe and Gianna During Time’s Person of the Year in Memoriam Segment

Vanessa Bryant recently paid tribute to her late husband, Kobe Bryant, and their daughter, Gianna. During the TIME 2020 Person of the Year Presentation on Thursday, Vanessa Bryant was heard speaking about the notable figures who have died this year. After her remarks, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott performed a rendition of “Over the Rainbow” for the In Memoriam presentation, which featured Kobe and Gianna.

“Words cannot do justice to the grief we felt this year,” Vanessa said as reported by PEOPLE. “At every level of human connection from across the world to across the table, we experienced profound loss. We said goodbye to husbands, daughters, wives, sons, grandparents, friends and national heroes. And we continue to count the lives surrendered to this cruel pandemic, which has claimed well over a million souls worldwide.”

Kobe and Gianna died in January in a helicopter crash in California. Seven others also died in the crash, including Payton Chester, 13, Sarah Chester, 46, Alyssa Altobelli, 14, Keri Altobelli, 46, John Altobelli, 56, Christina Mauser, 38, and pilot Ara Zobayan, 50. The group was traveling to a youth basketball tournament at Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy. Recently, Vanessa revealed that when she met Kobe 21 years ago it was “love at first sight.”

“It was a two-day video shoot, and I was always looking for her, like I wanted to know where she was. I would finish a take and go to my trailer but I would wonder where she was the entire time,” Kobe said during the Showtime documentary, Kobe Bryant’s Muse when talking about how the couple first met. “Then I would come out of the trailer and just wanted to talk to her some more, in between takes and stuff like that.”

Kobe Bryant was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996-2016. He is considered one of the best players in NBA history after leading the Lakers to five NBA titles in 10 years and being named an All-Star 18 times. In October, the Lakers won their 17th NBA championship and paid tribute to Kobe. “Go Lakers!” Vanessa wrote in an Instagram story. “Congratulations Uncle P [Rob Pelinka]. Congratulations [Lakers]. Kobe was top, RP! ‘Stay the course, Blockout the Noise.’ Wish Kobe and Gigi were here to see this.”