The #GirlDad trend comes following a touching tribute to the late basketball star from ESPN reporter Elle Duncan, who recalled the one time she met him and asked Bryant, who at the time had three daughters, if he wanted any more children. He responded that his wife, Vanessa, joked that they might have another girl.
"I was like, 'Four girls, are you joking? What would you think? How would you feel?' And, without hestitation, he said, 'I would have five more girls if I could. I'm a girl dad,'" Duncan noted. "When it came to sports, he said that his oldest daughter was an accomplished volleyball player, and that the youngest was a toddler so TBD. But that middle one, he said, 'That middle one was a monster, she's a beast.
"When I reflect on this tragedy, and that half an hour I spent with Kobe Bryant two years ago, I suppose the only small source of comfort for me, is knowing that he died doing what he loved the most. Being a dad, being a girl dad," she concluded.