Lenny Kravitz talks desire to marry again and relationships with ex-wife Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa as he opens up about his rock 'n' roll life in Esquire profile
Lenny Kravitz has opened up about his rock and roll life in a wide-ranging interview with Esquire, dishing on his desire to marry again, his blended family with ex-wife Lisa Bonet, and more.
The musician, 59, has remained on good terms with his ex-wife Lisa - Lenny gets along with Bonet's now estranged husband Jason Momoa, and the children Lisa shares with Jason even refer to the rocker as 'Uncle Lenny.'
Yet Lenny doesn't perceive their relationship as especially extraordinary. 'I wouldn’t think of it as this heroic feat,' he told the magazine. 'This is just normal to me.'
Jason recently stepped up for Lenny when the rocker was unable to attend the New York premiere of daughter Zoe Kravitz's film The Batman - an act the musician called 'beautiful.'
'"I got you,"' Kravitz recalled Momoa assuring him. '"I'm going to this one. I'll be there."' Momoa followed through, attending the star-studded premiere with his children, daughter Lola Iolani and son Nakoa-Wolf.
Lenny Kravitz has opened up about his rock 'n' roll life in a wide-ranging interview with Esquire, dishing on his desire to marry again, his blended family with ex-wife Lisa Bonet, and more
While the Are You Gonna Go My Way singer has not walked down the aisle again since divorcing Lisa in 1993, he hopes a marriage is still in his future.
'Absolutely. I’ve grown enough. I’ve become stronger. I’ve become more disciplined. I’ve become more open to be able to do so. But it’s been a very difficult thing for me to figure out.'
Kravitz, who has had failed engagements to Nicole Kidman and Adriana Lima, said of marriage: 'The desire has always been there.'
'The tools in which to do so have not always been there,' he added.
As for more children, Kravitz has an open mind when it comes to possibly expanding his family again.
'I could not, and I could,' he said.
'If it doesn’t happen, I’ve done the best with Zoë that I could ever dream to do. If I was with somebody that wanted to have kids, absolutely. A hundred percent,' he said.
Zoe is now a famous actress in her own right, but she initially considered entering the industry without using her father's last name.
Her father was sympathetic of her reluctance: 'I understood it,' he said, adding, 'but I was like, That’s your name.'
Kravitz got candid in a wide-ranging interview for the publication
The rocker doing what he does best - playing the guitar
Kravitz revealed his aspirations to marry once again, but admitted 'it's been a very difficult thing for me to figure out'
Kravitz also said he has an open mind when it comes to possibly expanding his family again
The rocker admitted the nepo-baby controversy has left him scratching his head
But Lenny admitted the nepo-baby controversy has left him scratching his head.
'I don’t understand that whole thing,' he explained, adding if 'you are good at what you do.'
Describing his own career, Lenny described grappling to be seen as a serious rock musician.
'There was this one article that, at that time, said, "If Lenny Kravitz were white, he would be the next savior of rock ’n’ roll." I got a lot of negativity thrown at me by all these older white men who weren’t going to let me have that position…It was discouraging at times. I’m good. Intact—happy, healthy, focused, with still so much to do.'
Kravitz has remained on good terms with ex-wife Lisa Bonet, whom he shares Zoe Kravitz with; pictured 2016
The rocker was touched knowing Jason Momoa stepped in to support Zoe at the New York premiere of Batman
He also remained perplexed by how Black entertainment and culture outlets perceive him.
'To this day, I have not been invited to a BET thing or a Source Awards thing,' he said. 'And it’s like, here is a Black artist who has reintroduced many Black art forms, who has broken down barriers—just like those that came before me broke down. That is positive. And they don’t have anything to say about it?'
Lenny also addressed recent inflammatory comments made by Rolling Stone founder and former editor-in-chief Jann Wenner. Many blasted the comments as sexist and racist, and Jann was axed from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame board as a result.
Jann created controversy when he suggested no female or Black artists were 'articulate' enough to be included in his new book about the 'philosophers of rock' - one that profiles seven white male artists.
'Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level... It’s not that they’re not creative geniuses,' Wenner suggested.
The 77-year-old was quizzed by the New York Times about the lack of diversity in the line-up of musicians profiled in his latest book, titled 'The Masters.'
The subjects - Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Jerry Garcia, Bono and Bruce Springsteen - are all white men, who Wenner stressed could 'really articulate' their philosophy.
Wenner said no women were 'articulate enough' to be counted in the same number, and that Black artists like Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield 'just didn’t articulate at that level' either.
He apologized for his remarks soon after, but not before he was swiftly axed from the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - which he co-founded in 1987, and presided over as chairman until 2020.
Speaking of the comments, Lenny told Esquire: 'It’s very disappointing and sad. I’ve known Jann since 1987. I’ve been to his house. In his life. I was disappointed. I was very disappointed. The statement alone, even if you just heard about the man yesterday, was appalling and embarrassing. And just wrong.'
