Not the same. Kobe Bryant and Paulo Coelho’s upcoming children’s book won’t be completed or released after the NBA star’s untimely death.
“You were more than a great player, dear Kobe Bryant. I learned a lot by interacting with you,” the Alchemist author tweeted on Sunday, January 26. “Will delete the draft right now, this book has lost its reason.”
Coelho also shared a screenshot of his messages with the late NBA star from August 2019.
“Let’s [write] that book together,” Bryant wrote with a smiley face emoji.
Coelho, 72, replied, “Anytime.”
Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were two of the nine people killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, on Sunday. The basketball legend and wife Vanessa Bryant shared four daughters: Natalia, 17, Gianna, Bianka, 3, and Capri, 7 months.
Coelho further explained his decision not move forward with the book plans on Monday, January 27.
“I deleted the draft because it didn’t make any sense to publish without him,” the Brazilian lyricist told the Associated Press. “It wouldn’t add anything relevant to him or his family.”
Coelho added that he may write about his experiences with Kobe in the future.
“That doesn’t stop me from writing someday about things I learned from Kobe and how much of a larger-than-life person he was,” he explained. “But the children’s book did not make sense anymore. … I saw him enough times to assure he had much more than sports on his mind, it wasn’t all about competition.”
The author concluded: “His tragic death has shown already how he was important to the world, not only to the United States. We will discuss his legacy for many years, much beyond sport.”
Coelho isn’t the only person who was working with Kobe before his untimely passing. Actress Olivia Munn revealed she was set to meet with him this week “to brainstorm more parts of the epic world you were creating” at his multi-media original content company, Granity Studios.
“You were creating a whole big world from scratch- everything from the continents to the oceans and rivers to the trees and even the leaves on the trees,” Munn wrote on Monday via Instagram. “The last time we talked, I told you my idea about what the night sky would be made of. I was inspired by friends of mine who lost their 4-year-old daughter to cancer. … We wanted to help kids be less afraid of death and tell stories of all the little and big stars…. And now you’re one of them. 😞⭐️”
