Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa posts heartbreaking picture

Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna during the NBA All-Star Game 2016. Photo / Getty

Vanessa Bryant has posted a heartbreaking photo of her husband Kobe and daughter Gianna in her first public acknowledgement of their tragic death in a helicopter crash.

Three days after they were among nine killed in a fiery explosion in Los Angeles, Vanessa changed the profile picture on her Instagram account to an image of Kobe and Gianna staring lovingly into each other's eyes at an NBA All-Star game.

Kobe's wife Vanessa Bryant posts heartbreaking pic. Photo / Instagram

Kobe and Vanessa had a pact never to fly together in the same helicopter — an arrangement that guaranteed one of them would be left behind to take care of their daughters if tragedy struck.

Vanessa has been left to pick up the pieces and is understandably "devastated" but doing everything she can to hold it together for her three remaining children.

"She can hardly keep it together," a family insider told PEOPLE magazine. "She can't finish a sentence without crying. But she is working very hard to pull it together for the other girls. She now has to be the strong one.

"Of course, you can never be prepared for this. Despite their ups and downs, (Vanessa and Kobe) were soulmates. She thought of him as her partner for life."

The picture (below) was from the NBA's All-Star game in 2016.

Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna during the NBA All-Star Game 2016. Photo / Getty