A musical muse, an almost rekindled romance, and two exes that get on
better than most married couples. What's up with Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet?
It only seems right that one of the coolest rock musicians of all time met his future
wife at a concert. Lenny Kravitz met The Cosby Show actor Lisa Bonet following a
New Edition performance in the mid-1980s. Kravitz was actually engaged to someone
else at the time, but their electric connection was too strong to ignore.
Despite their instant bond, Kravitz admitted in his memoir, Let Love Rule,
that his first words to Bonet weren't charming. According to the musician,
he told Bonet, "I like your hair." Reflecting on his embarrassment, he wrote:
"It was a lame line, a stupid line, one of the worst lines in the history of bad lines."
Kravitz's first-time nerves didn't phase the actor, and the two became friends instantly.
While his relationship with Bonet wasn't romantic at first, Kravitz's then-fiance sensed something
more between the friends, so she and Kravitz split, according to Page Six. Kravitz doesn't
appear to have regrets about how his relationship with Bonet evolved, writing in his memoir:
"​​Well, I guess, you know, we went where we went, so I guess it was okay."
For many couples, romantic relationships start with,
well, romance. But for Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, their relationship had
a foundation in friendship first. Rolling Stone reports that, not long after the pair
connected at the New Edition concert, they moved in together as platonic roommates.
Kravitz described their bond as magical and credits their deep personal connection as
one of his greatest life experiences. In 1990, the "Are You Gonna Go My Way" singer told Spin:
"Usually, when you meet somebody you like right from the beginning, there's that whole infatuation
thing and the dating thing and 'do-I-look-good?' thing. With Lisa there was none of that."
On the spark that led to them starting a relationship,
Kravitz shared on CBS Sunday Morning:
"Why do you think the two of you clicked?"
"We had the same spirit. It was magical."
Kravitz added that Bonet's magical spirit helped him
find the sound that made him a star "without any effort."
Lenny Kravitz may be known today as one of the most influential rock musicians of all time,
but back when he started dating Lisa Bonet in the mid-1980s, he was a mostly unknown up-and-coming
musician dating a famous actor. Bonet had landed her role as Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show in
1984, when she was just 16 years old. According to the Chicago Tribune, approximately one third
of TV-watching Americans were tuning into the show when episodes aired each week.
Being on one of the most popular shows of the 1980s meant that Bonet was one of Hollywood's
rising stars. When the actor began dating Kravitz, her celebrity status often affected the public's
perception of her lesser-known partner. In a 1989 interview with the Los Angeles Times,
Kravitz shared his dismay about being assigned names like "Mr. Bonet," saying:
"Hell no, I don't like that kind of thing. I know why it happens. She's famous and I'm not — yet."
Of course, Kravtiz's prediction came true. As time went on, the musician was able to
carve out a very successful path for himself separate from the shadow of Bonet's fame.
Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet didn't have an elaborate plan to get married. Their decision
to tie the knot came about spontaneously one day as the two were in bed. Kravitz
shared in his memoir that he told Bonet he wanted to marry her, and she agreed
that they should do it right away. In fact, that very day the couple eloped in Las Vegas.
Bonet became pregnant quickly after their elopement and the spotlight on the newlywed
couple only grew bigger. She revealed in a 2018 interview with Net-A-Porter that people
were falling off rooftops trying to snap pictures of the two. The pair's daughter,
Zoë Kravitz, was born on December 1, 1988, at their home in Los Angeles.
Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet were more than just friends and lovers. They were also each other's
creative muses. While they were married, the High Fidelity actor inspired Kravitz
to write music in a way that was completely different from what he was used to writing.
Kravitz found the process of finding the right message to convey through music quite strenuous.
"I was not comfortable with myself at the time. There was David Bowie and Prince,
and Lenny Kravitz just didn't fit in."
However, after marrying Bonet, his outlook completely changed. Through her, he was able
to tap into his soul and discover the intended meaning and purpose behind his music. He told NPR:
"All of a sudden, [the songs] were being downloaded. It was beyond my
thought process. It was just being presented, like, here you go. Here it is. This is it."
The artist wrote, performed, and produced his 1989 debut album, Let Love Rule,
with Bonet by his side. Kravitz and his then-wife wrote two songs together for
the record, "Rosemary" and "Fear." In 2020, Kravitz told Men's Health,
"It was the first time I'd opened up like that, and had known love like that, and freedom."
With strong roots in friendship and a beautiful daughter, Lenny Kravitz and
Lisa Bonet appeared to be a perfect couple. Below the surface, however,
their marriage was falling apart. By 1991, the two called it quits, and their divorce
was finalized two years later. According to Flatt, Kravitz attributed their breakup to
being young and experiencing significant losses in his personal life. He revealed:
"I had to take a break. I went through a lot of emotional things, a lot of deaths in my family."
The split affected both Kravitz and Bonet profoundly. In a 1995 interview with Rolling
Stone, Kravitz revealed that the period of his life after divorce was painful,
explaining he was a zombie consumed by his own sadness and grief. He shared:
"For, like, six months, I only slept for two hours a day, from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m."
The split was equally painful for Bonet,
who discussed its impact with Net-A-Porter in 2018. As they were dealing with the fallout,
the actor experienced a spiritual transformation. She tried her best
to spare her young daughter any bitterness that could have come from the breakup, explaining:
"I didn't want to pass on those heirlooms, and this fresh wound of a divorce [to Zoë]."
"Do you and the baby hangout with Mr. Kravitz and
spend time together — the three of you — every now and then?"
"No."
After Lenny Kravtiz and Lisa Bonet divorced, the singer channeled his heartbreak into the
only medium that felt right: his music. In 1991, he released his second album,
Mama Said, which he dedicated to Bonet, according to The Washington Post. The
record included several songs touching on the ups and downs of their whirlwind love.
Considering the record went Platinum it seems Kravitz pain and longing went to good use.
One of Kravtiz's most popular songs from the album was the track "It Ain't Over 'Til It's
Over," which he dedicated to his soon-to-be ex-wife. Kravitz wrote the song in hopes that
the two could settle their differences and rekindle their bond. He told Jet in 1991,
"As long as we're living and breathing, you never know what the next move is going to be."
He elaborated to the publication that while a situation, relationship,
or outcome may seem permanently over, time can change things and hope will always be there.
Quite a few years later, in 2018,
Kravitz discussed the inspiration behind the song with Rolling Stone, saying,
"It was my belief that it ain't over 'til it's over. There's always a chance we can
pull this together and make this happen. It didn't go that way, but that was the song."
And while Kravitz and Bonet never reconciled romantically, the pair
remained friends afterward primarily for the sake of their young daughter.
One thing Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet refused to do was let the emotional baggage of their
separation bleed into the life of their daughter. At the time of their separation,
Zoe Kravitz was just two years old, and both Kravitz and Bonet wanted to ensure that she
had two supportive, loving parents in her life, despite their differences.
The singer opened up to Oprah's Master Class in 2013 about the
significance of becoming a parent with Bonet. He said:
"We were very young, and it was wonderful, and we had Zoë."
As Zoë grew up, the pair worked on giving her
a normal upbringing. After Kravitz and Bonet divorced,
she lived with her mom in Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles until she was 11, according to Complex.
Zoë then traveled to Miami and lived with Kravitz,
who was busy touring and making music through most of her childhood. While
discussing that transitional period, Zoë revealed to Rolling Stone,
"That was a massive change. Going from this really quiet house in Topanga,
just me and my mom, to my dad's life, which was very busy — lots of people, lots of assistants."
Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet made sure to keep their relationship on good terms,
but somewhere down the line, the pair ended up becoming best friends all over again. Kravitz
revealed his thoughts on this pleasant turn of events on Oprah's Master Class.
"It's interesting because that's how the relationship started,
but it makes you feel really good when you can do that."
In the mid-2000s, Bonet met Aquaman and Game of Thrones actor Jason Momoa,
and the two married in 2017. Bonet and Momoa have two children, who are a huge part of the blended
family that includes Lenny and Zoë Kravitz as well. Bonet told Net-A-Porter in 2018:
"It's fantastic. It's full-on family love."
Additionally, Lenny Kravitz has managed to a strong relationship with both Momoa and
Bonet. Their healthy communication actually helped
the exes' connection blossom. Kravitz told The Times in 2019,
"[Lisa and I] put the work in and we took the time so that we could become best friends again.
Our families are blended. I love her husband [Jason Momoa] — he's like a brother to me."
Despite the fact that Momoa and Bonet's divorced in early 2022, Kravitz and Momoa still remain
close friends. Kravitz told GQ, ​​Bonet's two exes share many similar interests, including a
love for instruments. They're also both into motorcycles, Airstreams, and even design.
On March 11, 2022, the singer shared a picture on Instagram
of both him and Momoa on motorcycles together, with a caption that read:
"Ride or die. Brothers for life."