Last week, Lenny Kravitz celebrated turning 55 by posting this image to his Instagram.
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Day off. Photo shoot. #Blackandwhitephotography
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Which we are, of course, in favour of.
And yes, over those 55 years the American rock legend has had quite a life.
The Grammy Award winner has enjoyed decades of professional success, especially during the peak of his music career in the 1990s and early 2000s.
These days, Kravitz splits his time between his homes in the Bahamas and Paris, and concentrates on his charitable foundation, Let Love Rule, which brings dental care to underprivileged populations.
His big heart may be one of the reasons why Kravitz has remained hugely popular as a public figure. Coupled with his super-cool, rock-star persona, it’s also not surprising the singer has had an interesting, and full, personal life.
Kravitz has been married once, and linked to several high-profile celebrities. We’ve gone on a bit of a deep dive into those relationships.
Kravitz was married to The Cosby Show actress Lisa Bonet, now 51, from 1987 to 1993.
In true Hollywood royalty fashion, the couple eloped to be married in Las Vegas on November 16, Bonet’s twentieth birthday.
During their marriage they had daughter Zoë, who is now 30, and stars in the popular Foxtel show, Big Little Lies, alongside another of Kravitz’s exes (we’ll get to her later).
Kravitz with then wife Lisa Bonet, and their baby daughter, Zoë. Image: Getty.
Bonet married actor Jason Momoa in 2017, after having their first child, daughter Lola Iolani, in 2007 and their second child, son Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha, in 2008.
As the father of siblings to Zoë, it of means that Kravitz and Momoa are connected; and they are in fact, firm friends as well as family.
Kravitz told People, “After Lisa and I separated, we learned to find a new relationship. Then I met Jason when they got together and I love him, he loves my kid and I love their kids and we’re all one big family. It’s beautiful.”
Kravitz briefly dated Aussie singer Kylie Minogue (pictured top), now 51, in the early 1990s, after her relationship with singer Michael Hutchence ended.
Minogue had dated the INXS lead from 1989 – 1991, and has always spoken of him fondly, revealing their split was devastating on them both; meaning Kravitz could very well have been a much-needed rebound for the singer.
In September 2018, Kravitz and Minogue shared the stage to perform together at Radio 2’s festival in Hyde Park, London.
Kravitz and Madonna, now 60, were romantically linked when the two stars collaborated for Madonna’s hit Justify My Love on her Immaculate Collection album in 1990.
However, Kravitz set the record straight on the rumours when he appeared on the American show Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in December 2018.
When asked if a relationship had ever evolved, Kravitz answered, "It never did. That's the truth. [We've] always been really good friends."
Years after the rumours, Madonna and Kravitz performed together at the 1998 MTV Music Awards.
Kravitz says he and Madonna were "really good friends". Image: Getty.
Neighbours star turned singer Natalie Imbruglia, now 44, briefly dated Kravitz in the early 1990s.
After Kylie came another Australian singer, Natalie Imbruglia. Image: Getty.
The ARIA award winner went on to marry Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns in 2003, whom she divorced in 2008.
Kravitz had a relationship with then little-known French singer and model Vanessa Paradis.
It was a significant relationship to Kravitz, as he credits Paradis, now 46, for his love of Paris, which is now one of his homes.
The couple were first rumoured to be dating when Paradis moved to the United States to work with Kravitz on an album in 1992, and were officially together from 1993 to 1997.
Kravitz in the studio with Vanessa Paradis. Image: Getty.
In 2009, Kravitz said:
”I was madly in love with her. Vanessa was the perfect woman but she arrived at the wrong moment. I regret it.
“And I hope she will read this. She met Johnny Depp through me. After that, I never saw her again. She didn’t come to my concerts, we didn’t have anymore contact. I can only wish her to be happy.”
Paradis was married to Depp from 1998 to 2012.
Kravitz and Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima, now 37, dated from 2001 to 2003, in another significant relationship.
The couple became engaged in 2002, which was also the year Lima starred in the video for Kravitz’s Yesterday is Gone. Less than a year later, the engagement was called off.
Kravtiz’s daughter Zoë was young at the time, and has spoken about feeling awkward about herself when he father was dating glamorous women like Lima.
She told InStyle: “I went through a really awkward phase. I was short and brown, surrounded by tall girls with boobs and blonde hair.
“And my dad was dating supermodels, so I was waking up to Adriana Lima.”
In 2003, Kravitz met Aussie actor Nicole Kidman, now 51, when she rented a New York apartment from him.
They commenced dating until 2004, and were even briefly engaged for some of that time.
As life would have it, a decade later, Zoë and Kidman are now working together on Big Little Lies.
Kravitz and his ex, Nicole Kidman, caught up at the Hollywood Film Awards in 2016. Image: Getty.
"I thought it was very interesting that they ended up on the same show," Kravitz told television host Andy Cohen in December last year.
"Zoë hadn't seen Nicole since she was younger, and so it was beautiful that they got to know each other as adults and make this great show together."
Kravitz also offered a simple explanation for his and Kidman’s separation; "Some things just don't work,” but added, “we're all friends."
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Kravitz was most recently linked to another model, Barbara Fialho, but appears to be currently single. Judging by that birthday Instagram post, he's doing just fine.
