5 POWERFUL Love Lessons From David Bowie & Iman's Legendary Romance
Here's how they survived the celebrity spotlight for more than two decades.
On Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, the world woke up to shocking news that music legend David Bowie had passed away. As we mourned along with his family, we couldn't imagine the heartbreak felt by his wife of more than two decades, Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid.
In this modern age where celebrities marry and divorce like it's just a regular Tuesday, there is no denying that what Bowie and Iman had was a shining great example of true love amidst the glamour and chaos of celebrity life. Love is never easy in the spotlight.
Here are 5 lasting lessons about true love we all should learn from David Bowie and Iman's enduring romance:
1. Love is about taking chances.
According to US Weekly, Bowie and Iman — both divorced from their first spouses — met on a blind date in the early 90s. For Bowie, it was love at first sight.
"I couldn't sleep for the excitement of our first date," he said in an interview with Hello! magazine back in 2000. "That she would be my wife, in my head, was a done deal. I'd never gone after anything with such passion in all my life. I just knew she was the one."
Meanwhile, supermodel Iman was skeptical of the rock star.
"I was not ready for a relationship. Definitely I didn't want to get into a relationship with somebody like him," she said in an interview with The Guardian in 2014. "But as I always said: I fell in love with David Jones. 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.”
Two weeks into dating, Iman returned from Paris to Los Angeles and was greeted by Bowie holding a bouquet of flowers. She revealed to NY Magazine in 2011, that this was the moment she knew that he was the one.
They married in 1992.
2. Always support each other's endeavors.
After retiring from modeling shortly before her marriage to Bowie, Iman launched her own cosmetics company, IMAN Cosmetics, in 1994. While Bowie focused on his music, Iman focused on her company.
When asked about this "role reversal" by The Guardian, Iman responded, "Are you kidding me? He makes far more money than I do. What role reversal? I don't know why people think he's not doing anything. He's making his money work for him. That's what he's doing."
She also was a fan. In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, Iman revealed her favorite songs by her husband are "Heroes" and "Suffragette City."
3. Affection and romance don't have to stop after marriage.
Bowie worked hard to woo Iman, and his love and devotion didn't stop after they married. Rare glimpses into the couple's home life often involved a lot of laughter and kissing.
When asked by People magazine how they keep romance alive, Bowie had said, "Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation generally does the trick!"
4. Every fight can be resolved.
Iman told Harper's Bazaar that since Bowie is English and a gentleman, he doesn't fight, while she's "the screamer."
"Then he always makes me laugh. It's like cabaret. I keep him entertained, too. I still fancy him — totally! — after all these years," she said.
5. True love is not easily broken.
Although they made many public appearances and were always affectionate, people still speculated that Bowie and Iman's love would soon die out, just like so many other celebrity couples.
Iman revealed to NY Mag that this is why they don't do Valentine's dinner in public because people would talk and stare and speculate about their relationship.
Bowie, himself, had said, "You would think that a rock star being married to a supermodel would be one of the greatest things in the world. It is."
Until the very end, Iman, along with their 15-year old daughter Alexandria, stayed by his side.
Bowie may now be gone, but his legacy lives on. We remember him not only for his uniqueness and genius contribution to the world of music, film, and theater, but also for his deep love and devotion to the woman who captured his heart.