Rapper and actor T.I. penned several heartfelt posts to his family asking for forgiveness and reminding them of his love following the death of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, who were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
On Monday, T.I. shared several photos on Instagram of Bryant and the athlete's daughter Gianna Bryant. In one post, the rapper told people to "love hard on your children & family" because life is short.
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., followed that message up with several posts dedicated to his own family.
He asked his 18-year-old daughter, Deyjah Harris, and stepdaughter, Zonnique Pullins, for forgiveness for his "imperfections that cause misunderstandings."
"I love you girls more than my vocabulary will allow me to express. You have grown so much right before my very eyes & blossomed into strong, brilliantly opinionated, independent young women," he wrote. "I'm so proud of you both and I love you to no end, more than you'll ever know."
In November, the rapper faced backlash after he said that he accompanies Deyjah to her yearly gynecologist appointments to ensure that her hymen "is still intact." The rapper, who dubbed the backlash about his remarks "hymen-gate," made the initial comment on the "Ladies Like Us" podcast.
The hymen, a thin membrane at the opening of the vagina, is thought by some to remain intact until a woman loses her virginity. Medical experts have widely debunked that notion.
During an interview on Jada Pinkett Smith's "Red Table Talk" weeks later, T.I. said that his comments were "terribly misconstrued" and that he had "embellished and exaggerated" the visits to his daughter's doctor appointments.
T.I.'s wife, Tameka "Tiny" Harris, said that the visits occurred when Deyjah was 15 or 16. The rapper said on "Red Table Talk" that Deyjah's mother, singer Ms. Niko, was present during the doctor appointments.
"... I think that a lot of people kind of took it extremely literal. I honestly thought people knew me better than that," he said.
T.I. wrote on Instagram this week that he could not let another second go by without telling his daughters that they will always have his love and support.
"You see life may throw us curveballs & deal us some pretty bad hands at times. But rest assured, you'll NEVER find yourself in a place too high or low for me to be there to catch you when you fall," he posted.
T.I. also penned Instagram posts to his wife and sons.
"I couldn't imagine living in a world without you ... or leaving you and the kids to have to live without me. I'm determined to make you happy by any means necessary," he wrote on a post to his wife that included photos of them together.
In a message to his sons, T.I. said he was proud of them and impressed by their maturity and growth.