David Bowie moved to New York in 1993 after marrying supermodel Iman
He said that fatherhood put his workaholic tendencies ‘into perspective’
Birth of his daughter Alexandria, now 15, gave him the will to stay healthy
The couple kept homes in London and an Indonesian-style home on the Caribbean island of Mustique, but New York became their main base.
They enjoyed separate but successful careers — the elegant Iman, now 60, runs a make-up and fashion company that turns over as much as £15 million a year.
In 2000 they had a daughter, Alexandria, or Lexi. Unlike Duncan Jones, Bowie’s son — originally named Zowie — from his first marriage to Angie, she was rarely photographed in public.
Iman revealed their ability to separate their public and their private lives was the secret to the success of her marriage to Bowie. As she later confided: ‘I am not married to David Bowie — I am married to David Jones [his real name]. They are two totally different people.’
Their domestic life was kept fiercely private. ‘We never have photographs taken in our apartment, we never do fashion shoots together,’ said the impossibly well-preserved Iman.
They didn’t fight over domestic matters such as interior decor, she added, because she always got her way.
Bowie made clear he embraced conventional — or relatively conventional — family life largely to give his daughter Lexi a normal upbringing.
‘He missed out on much of Zowie’s young life, and wanted to spend as much time as possible with Lexi,’ said David Buckley, Bowie’s biographer.
That home life revolved around their Manhattan flat — Bowie would emerge most mornings and walk Lexi to school — and a country home a few hours’ in a car away.
He bought an undeveloped 64-acre mountain near the famous hippy town of Woodstock in New York’s Catskills, and built a house there where the family could spend summer away from the sweltering heat of the city.
Lexi attended the local summer day camp.
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