Kobe Bryant's heartbroken mother Pamela has been seen for the first time since losing her 41-year-old son and 13-year-old granddaughter Gigi in a helicopter crash that claimed seven more lives.
Distraught Pamela, 65, had not left her Las Vegas home since the tragedy rocked the sports world last Sunday until she was spotted jogging on Friday morning.
Pamela left her house alone, heading for the "Ford Expedition", she writes Dailymail.
She was then seen entering a beauty salon, wearing a white headband while wearing a black dress and orange tights.
Kobe's father, 65-year-old retired NBA player Joe, known as Jellybean, was spotted outside the couple's home on Monday.
Earlier this week DailyMail.com learned that Pamela and Joe's lives have been turned 'upside down' by the death of their son and granddaughter.
A neighbor, who asked not to be named, said the family is too shocked to comment on the tragedy and is grieving beyond measure.
"They're just devastated, as you can imagine," the neighbor said, adding: "It's a private, terrible moment, losing your son and great-granddaughter, it's just terrible... their lives were turned upside down."
The neighbor said Joe and Pamela are staying 'very close' with their daughters Sharia and Shaya (Kobe's sisters) who live in Las Vegas and the family has gathered together, adding: "They just need their peace, it was something terrible what they went through."
"It's a sensitive time, I can't even imagine what they're going through. They are beautiful, kind, good people", added the neighbor on condition of anonymity.
Kobe had a bad relationship with his parents, stemming from their disapproval of his relationship with his future wife Vanessa, as well as the time they tried to auction off his high school memorabilia and two Lakers championship rings from year 2000, without his consent in 2013.
The NBA star filed a lawsuit against the auction house.
In a 2016 interview, Kobe said he hadn't spoken to them in three years, saying, “Our relationship is not good at all. I say, 'I'll buy them a very nice house,' and the answer is, 'Why isn't that nice?' And then they sell me my things".
Kobe's former coach and his father Joe's best friend, Wayne Slappy, said DailyMail.com that the NBA star's family is struggling to overcome the difficult situation they are in.
The 67-year-old basketball coach, who has been close friends with Joe for decades, said Kobe's family has been left empty.
“Can you imagine a black hole? It's empty, how do you fill it? They are a close-knit family. He was 41 years old, and then his daughter dies in an accident with him, too," Slappy said.
He added: "He grew up with his family loving each other. He was doing the same thing that his father did for him, for his daughters, to the best of his ability."
Slappy also shared how Kobe hugged his father at a recent basketball game in Santa Barbara, revealing that the family had already patched up their relationship by clearing up their past differences.
"I just remember being with him in Santa Barbara and seeing him hug his father. You know how much they loved each other by the way they looked at each other, the way they smiled," he said.
"Everybody's family has issues, disagreements here and there. Healing will come, but this healing will be difficult because he is not here."
Slappy said that despite deep rifts between Kobe and his parents earlier in the former Lakers star's life, their family bond remained strong, and his late daughter Gigi was close to her grandfather Joe.
Kobe is survived by his wife Vanessa, daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka, three, and seven-month-old daughter Capri, and his parents and sisters Sharia and Shaya.
The father and daughter had prayed together at Catholic mass in their local church hours before they both died in the tragic helicopter crash, it has been revealed DailyMail.com.
They then left the church and soon after boarded the 'S-76 Sikorsky' helicopter piloted by Ara Zobyan who was taking them to the Mamba Academy for Gigi's basketball practice.
The helicopter crashed on a hill near Calabasas around 9:30 a.m. Firefighters responded to a 911 call at 9:47 a.m. Nine people disappeared on board.
It was revealed this week that pilot Ara Zobayan, although licensed to fly, did not have the legal authority to fly the specific flight in conditions that would have required him to use only the cockpit instruments.
Island Express Helicopters, which owned the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter that crashed in California on Sunday, was certified only to operate under visual flight rules, meaning pilots must be able to see clearly outside the aircraft during the day.
Zobayan did not have legal authority for that specific flight because the company did not have the necessary Federal Aviation Administration certification, sources told New York Times.
The company has revealed that since the incident, they are taking extra care on all flights in the wake of the devastating crash.
The helicopter was above the clouds when it went into a sudden and terrifying descent of 1.200 meters that lasted almost a minute. It crashed into a fog-shrouded hillside, scattering debris over a distance of more than 500 meters. /Telegraph/
