Although Rock legend David Bowie lost his 18 month battle with liver cancer this past Sunday, January 10, a close friend said he fought hard to live for his now 15-year old daughter Alexandria Zahra Bowie with his wife of 18 years, Supermodel Iman.
“I could see the tears behind his eyes, because he was not a man to show off his emotions. He was really in deep fear,” the family told Daily Mail. “I felt he was not in a death struggle but a struggle for life – he wanted to live on. He has a daughter of 15 and he really wanted to go on, but it was physically not possible. He was ill, but he wanted to live – for his wife and daughter, and for music. That became obvious to me time and time again during our collaboration.”
In an interview with Iman shared that Alexandria brought them closer together. She was considered Iman and Bowie’s miracle baby. Iman had tried IVF to get pregnant, but it was unsuccessful. The couple were considering adoption when they found out Iman was expecting a child.
“We’ve always been very close, but if it’s possible we’ve been drawn even closer,” she said. “There’s a joy or a contentment that’s almost palpable to both of us,” she added. “Overnight, our lives have been enriched beyond belief.”
Bowie’s last project, Blackstar, is Bowie’s 25th studio album and it was just released on his 69th birthday last Friday. It is filled with prolific lyrics in many of the songs including the first single “Lazarus” which starts with the lyrics “Look at me. I’m in heaven.”
Alexandria is Iman and Bowie’s only child together. He also had a 44-year old son, film maker Duncan Bowie, from a previous marriage to model Angela Bowie.
“He made Blackstar for us — his parting gift,” Bowie’s longtime friend and producer Tony Visconti said Monday of the album which features over 2 dozen musicians who remained hush about the project. “I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it.”
This video for Lazarus is indeed haunting but beautiful.
h/t BlackCelebKids