Shaquille O’Neal’s Ex-Wife Shaunie Shares Photo of Kobe Bryant & Gianna from Final Game Before Crash
Shaunie O’Neal is remembering Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.
In honor of the NBA legend and his 13-year-old daughter, who died on Sunday in a tragic helicopter crash, Shaunie, the ex-wife of Bryant’s longtime Lakers teammate Shaquille O’Neal, shared a photo of Bryant and Gianna watching a basketball game together one day before the fatal crash.
“Yesterday,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories alongside the snap — which appeared to show Bryant and his daughter as they watched Shaunie and Shaq’s 13-year-old daughter Me’arah on the court — alongside the hashtags “long live Gigi” and “long live Kobe.”
Me’arah also shared the image on her Instagram account, writing, “I knew y’all was watching over me!”
“I was trying my best to impress both of you,” she wrote. “Right after this game… I ran over too you Unc 🙏🏽… just wondering what i was gonna say or do. U told me my game was looking great. U told me i was better then good enough to make it. U told me to get in the gym with you. U told me so many honorable things, it’s hard to even think about it 💔 Thank you Unc, Please watch over me, you’ll always be with me ❤️🙏🏽🕊.”
In a message dedicated to Gianna, Me’arah mourned the loss of her “twin.”
“What’s crazy is, ur like my sister, we was born on the same exact day, we was like family! I wish we could’ve had a better bond and could’ve played together along side you, and ur dad,” she wrote alongside a photo of Gianna in a basketball uniform. “I love you GiGi, i’m sorry that it had to end this way, I never got to say goodbye 💔. I love you, May ur legacy go on 🕊🤞🏽❤️ imma represent you in every way i can! 🦋. We gone finish what you started ❤️🏀.”
Her older brother, 20-year-old college basketball player Shareef O’Neal also took to social media on Sunday, sharing a screenshot of a message he had received from Bryant earlier in the day.
The note, which was sent around 8:29 a.m. local time, had Bryant asking Shareef, “You good fam?”
“Yeah!,” he wrote, responding at 10:58 a.m., about an hour after the fatal helicopter crash occurred. “Just been getting this work in trying to figure out my next move. How you been?”
Literally this morning you reached out to me ....😔 I love you forever unc❤️ I love you pic.twitter.com/3oVgvKKUkm
— Shareef O’Neal (@SSJreef) January 26, 2020
“I love you forever unc,” Shareef wrote, adding, “I love you cousin” in a separate tribute to Gianna.
Shaq, 47, also mourned the loss of his friend and former teammate.
“There’s no words to express the pain I’m going through now with this tragic and sad moment of loosing my friend, my brother, my partner in winning championships, my dude and my homie,” he wrote on Instagram on Sunday. “I love you brother and you will be missed. My condolences goes out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on board. IM SICK RIGHT NOW !”
Bryant is survived by his wife Vanessa, 37, and their daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and Capri, 7 months.
The former NBA player and his daughter were on their way to a youth basketball game with seven others, including the pilot, at the time of the helicopter crash, according to ESPN.
