ESPN Host Elle Duncan’s Memory Of Kobe Bryant Being A ‘Girl Dad’ Goes Viral Online
Elle Duncan recently paid tribute to Kobe Bryant and highlighted his role as a father to his four daughters.
The ESPN host shared her story on SportsCenter of the only time she met Bryant. According to Hollywood Life, Duncan said that when she met Bryant, she immediately wanted to take a picture with the basketball phenom. She also shared that the two began an exchange about children, as Duncan was eight months pregnant with her daughter at the time. Duncan said once Bryant found out what she was having, he congratulated her during their meeting.
“As I approached him, he immediately commented on my rather large eight-month pregnant belly. ‘How are you? How close are you? What are you having?’ ‘A girl,’ I said, and he then high-fived me. ‘Girls are the best,'” Duncan remembered Bryant saying to her.
The sports commenter then said that she asked Bryant for advice on raising girls, as this would be her first time. She said back then that Bryant and his wife, Vanessa, had three girls — Natalia, Gianna, and Bianka. The Mamba Sports Academy owner told Duncan to “just be grateful” and referred to having his daughters as a “gift.” Duncan also said that Bryant shared how he and his wife discussed trying for a fourth child and revealed that Vanessa wanted to have a boy the next time around. She then asked Bryant how he would feel if he did end up having another girl, and the NBA star seemed thrilled by the opportunity.
“WITHOUT hesitation he said ‘I WOULD HAVE 5 MORE GIRLS IF I COULD. I’m a girl dad I love the challenge of raising women,'” Duncan said of Bryant’s response.
The host also shared how Bryant felt about his middle daughter at the time, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant. While she said he praised all of his daughters, Bryant referred to Gianna as a “monster” and “a beast” on the basketball court. Duncan said, when she learned that Gianna had died alongside her father, she took solace in the fact that they were together when the tragedy occurred.
“When I reflect on the tragedy and the half-an-hour I spent with Kobe Bryant two years ago, I suppose the only small source of comfort for me is knowing he died doing what he loved the most. Being a dad. Being a girl dad,” Duncan said as she began to get emotional during the taping.
Duncan’s clip has since been shared on social media across multiple outlets. On SportsCenter’s Instagram page alone, her message received more than 2.9 million views from the show’s fans. Many celebrities, including Hot 97’s Ebro Darden, QuestLove, and Catfish host Kamie Crawford shared how happy they were to be “GirlDads” and daughters of them.
Bryant, Gianna, and seven others were on their way to Mamba Academy for Gianna’s basketball game when they passed away. Bryant’s private helicopter crashed in Calabasas, California. The athlete leaves behind Vanessa and their three surviving daughters — Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and his fourth baby girl, Capri, 7 months.
