Zo? Kravitz reflects on 'hurtful' decision to leave mom Lisa Bonet to live with dad Lenny Kravitz
"I just wish I had been able to appreciate what she was doing for me," Zo? says of moving away from her mother when she was a preteen.
Zo? Kravitz is looking back on her decision to move away from her mother Lisa Bonet to live with her father Lenny Kravitz when she was 11, and how she now thinks that was "hurtful" to her mom.
After her parents split when she was young, Zo? lived with her mom for the first 10 years of her life. But now, in a new cover story for Esquire, Zo? says that she now thinks differently about moving across the country to live her father, who she had only seen a few times a year prior.
"It was this whirlwind of a completely different universe," Zo? says of his visits. "And then I would go home to this really quiet, really simple life." Experiencing her father's rockstar life at the time made going home to her mother's stricter lifestyle ultimately made her decide to move to Miami to live with Lenny when she was 11.
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Zo? Kravitz and her dad, Lenny KravitzAll of a sudden, Zo? found she could do anything she wanted. "It wasn’t that my dad didn’t care," she says. "He just cared about different things." So Zo? grew up fast, and the excitement of her newfound freedom wore off. "Just like it happens in the movies, it’s like, 'Oh, you think this is perfect? You think this is great? Guess what comes with this.'"
Now Zo? feels guilty about moving away from her mother. "I think it was very hurtful that I moved away from her to be with my dad and my dad wasn’t even there," she says. "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."
Lenny was 24 years old when he and ex-wife Lisa, who was 21, welcomed Zo? in 1988. Zo? says that she was "quite awkward" as a kid, and had trouble fitting in because she identifies as half Black and half Jewish, because both of her parents are half Black and half Jewish. "People were confused," she says. "How are you Jewish if you’re Black? If both of your parents are Black, how are you half white?"
She says she would try to minimize her own Blackness to try to fit in. "It’s a lot of like, 'No, no, no, I’m also white! I’m cool like you guys!'" Zo? says, recalling how some kids would say hurtful things like, "'Your hair doesn’t look wet when you come out of the pool — that’s weird.' I was always a little lonely."
That's why she ultimately asked her dad to relocate from Miami to New York, where she eventually felt she fit in. "It was weirdos like me," she says of her new school, particularly of the drama club. "I wasn’t some genius actress. I felt safe."
Related: Why Zo? Kravitz needed to make thriller Blink Twice her directorial debut (exclusive)
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Earlier this year, Zo? playfully roasted her Grammy-winning rocker dad while he was receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
"Lenny Kravitz, I've had the pleasure of knowing you for a long time, and I must say, being your daughter has been one of the great adventures of my life,” Zo? began. “Since you were so young when I was born, in many ways, we've grown up together. We've been through a lot. We've seen a lot. I've seen a lot. I've seen you change in the most beautiful ways. I've seen the way you've stayed the same in the most important ways. I've seen the way you show up and take care of the people you love. I've seen your incredible dedication to your art."
She then paused before quipping, "But mostly, I've seen through your shirts. According to my dad, if it doesn't expose your nipples, it's not a shirt. And sure, it used to embarrass me when you picked me up from school as a kid, but I gotta say, at this point, I respect it. You really do pull it off. Your relationship with a netted shirt is probably your longest one, and it works. You two make each other better, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's a beautiful thing."
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.
