(IBEXNews) – Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna shared a profound bond that couldn’t be severed, even in death, Vanessa Bryant said Monday in her first public remarks since losing her husband and their second born.

“God knew they couldn’t be on this earth without each other. He had to bring them home to heaven together,” the grieving widow told a gathering of 20,000 mourners, her voice cracking with emotion.

“They were so easy to love. Everyone naturally gravitated towards them,” Vanessa said during her powerful, 20-minute eulogy at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. “They were so full of joy and adventure."

The emotional tribute followed after superstar singer Beyoncé first took the stage and performed her songs “XO” and “Halo.”

“I’m here because I love Kobe,” Beyoncé said.

Jimmy Kimmel then introduced Vanessa after first reading the names of the “nine beautiful people" killed in the Jan. 26 helicopter crash on a hillside in Calabasas, Calif.

“I don’t think any of us could have imagined this," Kimmel said, breaking down with emotion. “It seems to me all we can do is to be grateful for the time we had with them and the time we have left with each other."

Vanessa, 37, called Bryant, 41, the “most amazing husband” and “truly the romantic one in our relationship.”

“Kobe loved me more than I could ever express or put into words,” she said.

“He gifted me the actual notebook and the blue dress Rachel McAdams wore in the ‘Notebook’ movie,” she said, adding that he chose that dress because McAdams wore it in the scene when she returned to her onscreen love Noah.

“We had hoped to grow old together like the movie. We really had an amazing love story. We loved each other with our whole beings. Two perfectly imperfect people making a beautiful family and raising our sweet and amazing girls," Vanessa said.

She said Kobe wanted to renew their wedding vows and recently sent her a “sweet text” asking to spend more time alone together. She called him a “doting father" who had “magic arms” that could put their new baby, 8-month old Capri, to sleep in a matter of minutes.

She described Gianna as an “amazing sweet and gentle soul" whose “smile took up her entire face.”

“She was daddy’s girl, but I know she loved her mama," Vanessa said. “She was one of my very best friends.”

Gianna, whose nickname was Gigi, was an “incredible” athlete who also spoke Mandarin, was a member of her student council and could memorize songs with ease, just like her dad, Vanessa said.

“I loved the way she looked up at me when she hugged me. It was like she was soaking me all in,” Vanessa said. “Gigi was sunshine, she brightened up my day, every day.”

Vanessa lamented Gianna, 13, never got the chance to learn to drive, play for the WNBA, walk down the aisle or have children of her own.

“Gigi would have most likely become the best player in the WNBA,” she said to a round of applause in the packed arena.

Fellow NBA legends Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal also spoke at the ceremony, amid musical tributes from Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera.

“I admired him because of his passion. You rarely see someone who’s looking and trying to improve each and every day. Not just in sports but as a parent, as a husband,” Jordan said, tears streaming down his face.

Jordan said he couldn’t help weeping, even though he knew it would create “another crying meme” like the famous photo of the tears he shed at his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

“I told my wife I wasn’t going to do this because I didn’t want to see that for the next three or four years. That is what Kobe Bryant does to me,” he said.

O’Neal brought another moment of levity when he recalled ribbing Bryant over complaints he wasn’t passing the ball enough to his Lakers teammates.

“There’s no 'i' in ‘team,’" he remembered saying.

“I know, but there’s an ‘m-e’ in that motherf---er,” Bryant allegedly responded in jest.

Camera shots showed former Laker Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Warriors star Stephen Curry and Vanessa laughing at the joke in the arena Monday.

The cause of the Jan. 26 crash that killed Bryant, stunned the sports world, stole Gianna’s promising future and shattered five families, remains under investigation.

Along with Kobe and Gianna, the Sikorsky S-76B also was carrying two of Gianna’s teammates, three other parents, an assistant coach to the girls’ elite youth basketball team and the pilot.

The helicopter showed no signs of “catastrophic” engine failure before the impact, federal investigators said in their first written report.

Vanessa filed a lawsuit against the helicopter company Monday, alleging it negligently allowed pilot Ara Zobayan to fly that morning despite cloudy weather conditions that hampered visibility.

In his last radio transmission, Zobayan reported a plan to ascend to avoid a “cloud layer," officials said.

The chopper then climbed to 2,300 feet — rising more than 750 feet in about 30 seconds — and began a descending left turn at high speed, officials said.

“We know this was a high-energy impact crash,” NTSB member Jennifer Homendy said shortly after the crash. “This is a pretty steep descent at high speed, so it wouldn’t be a normal landing speed.”

The group in the helicopter was traveling to a youth tournament at Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks.

Nearby residents told the IBex News they heard the loud boom and saw the fire that erupted amid foggy conditions.

Gianna’s teammates lost in the crash were Payton Chester, 13, and Alyssa Altobelli, 14.

Also killed were Alyssa’s parents John Altobelli, a 56-year-old college baseball coach, and Keri Altobelli, 46; Mamba basketball coach Christina Mauser, 38, a married mother of three; Payton’s mom Sara Chester, 45; and Zobayan, 50.

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