When asked about her initial reaction to the tragic news, the supermodel recalls her own last thought before her aircraft crashed in Colorado's San Juan Mountains back in 1994.
- Feb 1, 2020
AceShowbiz - Christie Brinkley was left in floods of tears after Kobe Bryant's death, not only because of his tragic passing but also because it dredged up painful memories of how she survived her own helicopter crash 25 years ago.
The basketball player died on Sunday, January 26 when the helicopter he was travelling in with 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people crashed in Los Angeles. There were no survivors.
The tragedy sparked a huge outpouring of grief around the world, but was made even more difficult for Christie considering how close she'd come to death herself when her own aircraft crashed in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains back in 1994.
"I got a call from my daughter Sailor," Christie told U.S. TV show "Extra" of her reaction to Kobe's death. "She knows I'm sensitive to helicopter things. As soon as she said it, though, I spontaneously burst into tears. I grew up in a Lakers house; my parents had season tickets. My parents never missed a game, and my mom adored Kobe. He made her feel like a million bucks. She just always repeated how kind he was, how warm he was. And as a result, I loved him, also for everything he is, but also how he treated my mom."
"Then the next thing I thought, 'Oh, my God, a helicopter.' I don't know the details, I just know that my last thought was I just wanted everybody that I know to know, especially my daughter Alexa, wanted her to know how much I love her... It crystalised. When you really think you are about to die, it is about love. It all boils down to love."
Growing emotional, Christie added, "I think that's what we can say and really count our blessings for Kobe's family. Everybody he touched knew how much he loved them... That's a really great man."
