Reflecting on the Loving 23-Year Marriage of David Bowie and Iman

In the world of celebrity marriages, it's often surprising to see a couple stay together for longer than a few years, let alone decades. The late singer David Bowie and his supermodel wife, Iman, defied that convention and had a beautiful union that lasted 23 years. Married in 1992, the two appeared just as in love then as they did before his death.

Bowie and Iman had a mutual appreciation for each other, something they both made clear to the world. “My marriage is exactly as fabulous as you all would think,” Iman said on The Nate Berkus Show in 2010. Likewise, Bowie is widely quoted as saying, “You would think that a rock star being married to a supermodel would be one of the greatest things in the world. It is.”

Above photo source: @davidbowie

Photo credit: Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com

Photo credit: Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com

The couple first met at a party in 1990, where for Bowie, it was love at first sight. Iman was not convinced. “For him [it was overwhelming],” she told the Independent in 2014. “I was not ready for a relationship. Definitely, I didn't want to get into a relationship with somebody like him.” As she got to know Bowie, however, she realized that he was a gentle soul. “I remember once the laces on my trainers came undone and David was down on his knees in the middle of the street tying them for me,” she recalled to Daily Express in 2011. “I thought to myself, ‘This one's a keeper.'”

“I fell in love with David Jones.” Iman remarked. “I did not fall in love with David Bowie. Bowie is just a persona. He's a singer, an entertainer. David Jones is a man I met.”

In each other, Bowie and Iman found both love and partnership. They fostered a relationship built on their own exciting endeavors and a very private home life. They never had photographs taken in their apartment nor did fashion shoots together. “You do things that are separate,” she told talk-show host Wendy Williams. “He's a musician and I do my own business, but home [life] is private.” Bowie echoed this, emphasizing the importance of separating work from what really matters–family. Their daughter, Alexandria, was born in 2000. “The Bowie character, for me, is strictly to be used on stage,” Bowie told David Itzkoff in 2005. “With my family, I am David Jones, very much.”

Photo source: @the_real_iman

Photo source: @the_real_iman

Photo source: @the_real_iman

Photo source: @arabomination

via [Buzzfeed, Huffington Post]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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