Everyone thinks they know the story. A rock star meets a supermodel, they look impossibly cool in paparazzi shots, and they live some kind of high-glam fever dream. But the thing about Iman and David Bowie is that their real life was actually pretty... normal.
Honestly? It was almost aggressively domestic.
When they met at a dinner party in 1990, David Bowie was already a legend who had worn a thousand masks. He’d been Ziggy Stardust. He’d been the Thin White Duke. He’d been the guy who supposedly lived on milk, peppers, and cocaine in the mid-seventies. But by the time he sat across from Iman Abdulmajid, he was ready to just be David Jones.
He fell for her instantly. Like, "naming the children" instantly.
Iman, on the other hand, was a bit more skeptical. She’s gone on record saying she didn't want to date a "rock star." To her, that sounded like a headache. But she didn't meet the rock star that night; she met the man.
The Blind Date That Changed Everything
It was a setup. Pure and simple. Their mutual hairdresser, Teddy Antolin, decided these two icons needed to meet. He threw a birthday party in Los Angeles just to get them in the same room.
Bowie arrived in a white Mustang. Iman arrived in a black Mercedes. It sounds like a movie scene, but the reality was a bit more awkward. Bowie was so nervous he invited her to afternoon tea.
The catch? He doesn't even drink tea.
He sat there drinking coffee while she drank tea, just trying to keep the conversation going. He later admitted he couldn't sleep that night. He just knew. He’d spent decades being the center of the universe, but suddenly, he wanted to be part of hers.
Why it actually worked
People often wonder how two people with such massive public personas stayed married for 24 years without a single tabloid scandal.
It’s because they kept the "persona" outside the front door. Iman has famously said, "I did not fall in love with David Bowie. Bowie is just a persona. I fell in love with David Jones."
They lived in New York City, mostly in Soho, and they did the stuff regular people do. They went to school plays. They walked the dog. They even queued for the London Eye like everyone else, using a bodyguard to take their daughter Lexi and her friend ahead while they waited in line separately to avoid a scene.
The Wedding(s) and the Life in Between
They actually got married twice in 1992.
The first was a tiny, private civil ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland, on April 24. They kept it low-key because, frankly, they didn't need the circus. But they followed it up with a bigger religious ceremony on June 6 in Florence, Italy, at St. James Episcopal Church.
It rained. In some cultures, that’s bad luck, but the locals told them it meant they’d be married for 50 years. They got nearly 25 before David passed away in 2016.
The arrival of Lexi
For a long time, it was just the two of them. They both had children from previous marriages—Bowie had his son, Duncan Jones, and Iman had her daughter, Zulekha Haywood. But they wanted a child together.
In 2000, Alexandria Zahra Jones (known as Lexi) was born.
Bowie basically retired from the global grind to be a dad. He stopped touring in 2004 after a heart scare and spent his days taking Lexi to school and music lessons. He was the guy at the back of the classroom, not the guy on the stage.
Moving Past the "Supercouple" Myth
We tend to romanticize celebrity deaths, but Iman’s grief has been remarkably private and steady. She doesn't call him her "late husband." She says, "He is my husband."
There's a specific kind of dignity in how she talks about him. She wears a gold necklace with his name on it. She hasn't remarried, and she says she never will.
"I still feel married. Someone a few years ago referred to David as my late husband, and I said, 'No, he's not my late husband. He's my husband.'" — Iman, 2021.
🔗 Read more: Adele's Son Angelo: The Truth About Raising a Famous Kid in 2023
Common Misconceptions
- They were always at parties: Nope. They were homebodies. Bowie loved to read and paint. Iman loved to cook.
- It was a "PR marriage": If it was, it was the longest and most boring PR stunt in history. They rarely did interviews together and hated being photographed at home.
- Lexi is a model: Actually, she turned it down. Despite every agency on earth calling her when she turned 18, Lexi chose to focus on art and music. Iman was the one who blocked the calls, wanting her daughter to have a private life.
How to Apply Their "Private Life" Logic
If you're looking for a takeaway from the lives of Iman and David Bowie, it's about the "third space." They had their careers, they had their fans, but they had a private language that belonged to no one else.
- Set hard boundaries: If you want a relationship to last, some parts of it have to be off-limits to the public (or even your extended friend group).
- Focus on the person, not the title: Whether you're dating a CEO or a clerk, the "persona" is what they do, not who they are.
- Prioritize the domestic: Real intimacy is found in the "boring" stuff—cooking dinner, walking the dog, and just being quiet together.
David Bowie once said that being a rock star married to a supermodel is exactly as great as you’d think it is. But looking at their history, the greatness wasn't in the clothes or the fame. It was in the fact that they found someone who made the masks unnecessary.
To keep their memory alive, you can look into Iman’s 2021 fragrance, Love Memoir, which she created as a tribute to their time together in Upstate New York, or explore Lexi Jones's debut album Xandri to see the creative legacy continue.