Longtime Lakers fan Jack Nicholson has stayed away from the press in recent years, but he put that rule on hold in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s death. ly died in a helicopter crash along with his daughter Gianna, 13, on Sunday in Los Angeles. “My reaction is the same as almost all of LA,” Jack told CBS Los Angeles (via Page Six) when asked about the helicopter crash that killed Kobe, 41, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others on Sunday, Jan. 26. “Where we think everything’s solid, there’s a big hole in the wall. I was used to seeing and talking to Kobe that … it kills you. It’s just a terrible event,” the actor said. “I teased him the first time we met. I offered him a basketball and asked him if he wanted me to autograph it for him. He looked at me like I was crazy,” he added fondly. Jack, 82, noted that he’s often sat behind Kobe’s “jump shot on the left-hand side” and could tell if the shots would make it as the NBA star neared the basket. “We’ll think of him all the time and we’ll miss him,” Jack said. “He was just one of those touched people.”
