Zo? Kravitz Admits It Was 'Very Hurtful' to Move Away from Mom Lisa Bonet to Live with Dad Lenny Kravitz

"I just wish I had been able to appreciate what she was doing for me," the 'Blink Twice' director said

Zo? Kravitz is looking back on her decision to live with dad Lenny Kravitz after his breakup with her mother Lisa Bonet.

The Blink Twice director and co-writer, 35, opened up about that period in her life in a wide-ranging interview for Esquire, alongside a photoshoot for the magazine's September 2024 issue.

“I think it was very hurtful that I moved away from her to be with my dad and my dad wasn’t even there,” Zo? said of Bonet, recalling the time she relocated to New York City from Miami and musician Lenny, now 60, left soon after to tour.

Zo? added of Bonet, now 56, “I just wish I had been able to appreciate what she was doing for me."

"She was so focused on preserving my innocence. My creativity. Because she knew what the world is — that you don’t get that back," the Batman actress added.

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Related: All About Zo? Kravitz's Relationship with Parents Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet

One example? Bonet changing her own name to Lilakoi Moon when Zo? was 5 years old and enrolling her daughter in school as Zo? Moon, a decision the latter told Esquire was "very sweet."

While she was living with Bonet, she saw Lenny a few times a year, according to the magazine — and seeing him "was this whirlwind of a completely different universe,” Zo? said, referring to the time when his career was at a particularly high point.

"Then I would go home to this really quiet, really simple life," she said of the time before she relocated with Lenny to Miami when she was 11 and then, eventually, to New York City.

Of the different lifestyle she adopted once she moved to Florida, Zo? told Esquire, “It wasn’t that my dad didn’t care. He just cared about different things.”

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Related: Lenny Kravitz Is Letting Love Rule! The Rockstar Opens Up About Family and the 'Power' of Black Musicians (Exclusive)

Lenny and actress Bonet met backstage at a New Edition concert in Los Angeles in 1985. They eloped in Las Vegas on Nov. 16, 1987 — Bonet's 20th birthday — and welcomed their only child, daughter Zo?, on Dec. 1, 1988.

Zo? was only 2 when her parents split in 1991, divorcing in 1993. But the former couple have remained close in the years since, with Lenny even telling PEOPLE in 2020 that their bond is "essential" and they "love each other just as much as before — it's just a different situation."

In her interview with Esquire, Zo? recalled feeling like her dad was getting taken advantage of at times when she was younger due to his friendly, accepting personality. She said, "I can smell it out pretty quickly."

“I had to when I was a kid because he didn’t," she explained of her own tendency to pick up on suspicious motives. "He’s really trusting, and it’s sweet, but I can tell exactly what someone wants.”

Blink Twice is in theaters Aug. 23.

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