The daughter of late music icon David Bowie and supermodel Iman recently spoke about her struggles with mental health and how it affected her final years with her father, who died in 2016.
Alexandria Jones, who goes by Lexi, said of her famous parents that she doesn’t “lead with that in my everyday life. My last name is ‘Jones.'”
But because of their celebrity status, people assume that she had a “magical” childhood, the 25-year-old said in a video post on Instagram. While Jones confirmed that parts of it were quite special, and she was “loved” and “cared for,” she wondered if people only wanted to get to know her because of her parents.
She felt like she “was already defined before I ever got the chance” and had trouble understanding “what a real relationship was supposed to feel like.”
One thing she did know was that she “didn’t want fame. I didn’t want attention. I didn’t want to be a public person, and I still don’t,” Jones said.
She said all of this played a part in her landing in treatment more than once for issues including bulimia, self-harming, and substance abuse.
“When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I was at my breaking point,” Jones said. “I was barely 14. I could already see what the future would look like for my family and for all of us. I felt broken before it even happened, and I didn’t want to stick around and watch it fall apart. That’s when I turned to drugs and alcohol.”
David Bowie – Jo Hale – Getty Images Entertainment – GettyImages-50958290
She spoke about lashing out, being “angry and scared,” and staying out after everyone else had gone home.
One weekday morning, she recalled, she was dressed for school when her mom called her into the living room, where her father was. She said Bowie had read her a letter, and while she didn’t remember all that it said, the last line was “I’m sorry that we have to do this.”
She said two large men came in to take her to therapy, although she wasn’t aware where she was going, and she screamed while holding onto the coffee table before being led away.
“They told me I could do this the easy way or the hard way,” she said. “I chose the hard way.”
Jones said she was taken to a wilderness therapy treatment program, where she was given outdoor gear, learned survival skills, and lived ruggedly.
“We made fires by stripping birch bark and striking flint and steel,” she said. “I was a city girl. I didn’t even know this kind of program existed.”
When the 91-day program was over, she was sent to a Utah treatment center and boarding school, where she was when her father died, she said.
“I had the luxury of speaking to him two days before, on his birthday,” she said. “I told him I loved him and he said it back, and we both knew.”
Jones said she felt sick when she read that her father died surrounded by his whole family: “Yeah, the whole family was there — except for me.”
Bowie, who died Jan. 10, 2016, of liver cancer, also shares a son, filmmaker Duncan Zowie Jones, with ex-wife Angie Bowie.
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Lexi Jones’ followers thanked her for being so honest.
“So feel for you, and wish I could tell you why,” one wrote. “This is an amazing step you have made here. Amazing, it will help a lot of people.”
Another commented, “This is such a beautiful and heartfelt post, discussing so many incredibly important challenges that I think all children/people face in different ways and in such an honest approach. I’m sure your childhood was a mix of wonder and normality and feeling very ‘used’ and not appreciated for who you are as a person. I hope you’re doing well. You seem to be. Thank you for posting this for so many other people, me and my own children included.”
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for Iman.