Before bringing us songs like “Fly Away” and “I Belong to You,” Lenny Kravitz was a struggling musician who was trying to find his place in the world. He encountered numerous people who helped him out along the way and was finally able to release his first album in 1989. In between all of the music, there were many women who made an impact on his life. But after one failed marriage, Lenny is still searching for the kind of love that will last a lifetime.
Here’s what we know about Lenny Kravtiz’s love life.
On his own
Born in Manhattan’s Upper East Side in 1964, Lenny Kravitz was raised by his Bahamian mother, Roxie Roker, who starred on The Jeffersons, and his Russian Jew father Sy Kravitz, who worked as a producer at NBC News. According to The Independent, at the age of 11, his family relocated to Los Angeles where he attended Beverly Hills High School.
He discovered his love for music at an early age, and it became his passion. But things at home began to go downhill. In his memoir, entitled Let Love Rule, Lenny wrote that at the age of 16, he got into an argument with his dad about going to a concert instead of cleaning his room.
Lenny got kicked out of the house. He packed a duffle bag, went to the concert, and never returned home. He was homeless for a few months and lived out of the back of his car. He wrote songs under the name Romeo Blue and bounced around from house to house. In an Instagram Live session, he said he briefly lived with the late singer Teena Marie. He said Teena took care of him, fed him, and gave him instruments to play. She took him to concerts and helped nurture him into the man he is today.
How did Lenny Kravtiz meet Tisha Campbell?
From there, he moved in with his good friend and another aspiring entertainer, Tracy Oberstone. In 1980, Tracy had an audition for a stage revival of the musical entitled The Me Nobody Knows. Lenny accompanied him to the audition and waited for him outside. In his memoir, Lenny said a woman working for the casting agency told him he needed to audition because he had the right look. Lenny ended up getting the part, and his friend Tracy didn’t.
The cast of the play included a young rising star named Tisha Campbell. In his book, Lenny described her as having gorgeous hazel eyes and, quote, “the most beautiful singing voice.” He was also amazed by her sweet personality. Tisha was raised in Newark, New Jersey, and Lenny gravitated towards her street smarts, her swagger, and her attitude. He said they began flirting, and the next thing he knew, they were making out on the floor during a party at their cast member’s home.
Once the show ended, they were head over heels in love with each other. Tisha headed back to Jersey, and Lenny stayed in Los Angeles to finish up high school. He told Tisha he would go out to visit her as soon as he could, and they parted ways.
His singing and acting gigs slowed down, and he took a job at a catfish joint to pay the bills. He was still down and out, though. He moved out of his friend Tracy’s house and started sleeping in the front seat of a Ford Pinto that he rented for $4.99 a day. He also got a second job as a dishwasher on Melrose Avenue.
Falling for Tisha
Sleeping in his car got old, and he moved in with the family of a girl he went to high school with. And after saving up some cash, he was able to fly back and forth between Los Angeles and New York, and eventually made his way out to Jersey to meet up with Tisha.
Lenny said he was so in love with her singing voice, he began writing and producing songs just for her. The attraction they had for each other was electrifying, and after a three-week visit, he moved in with her and her family.
Lenny said he slept on the wooden floor every night. There wasn’t much food in the house either, but they made things work. Tisha wound up getting a gig in England as a singer in the film version of Little Shop of Horrors, and as her career took off, their lives moved in different directions. They broke up, but they remain close friends to this day.
Lenny & Lisa Bonet
From there, Lenny began dating someone else, but he dropped her in an instant when he met actress Lisa Bonet backstage at a New Edition concert. They felt an instant connection and bonded over their Jewish backgrounds. Lenny told the Daily Mail it was love at first sight.
On Lisa’s 20th birthday, she and 23-year-old Lenny jetted off to Las Vegas and got married. She gave birth to their daughter Zoe in December 1988, and in 1989, Lenny’s debut album Let Love Rule was released. Lisa even helped him co-write a few songs.
But their marriage was doomed. There were rumors that Lenny was cheating on her with Madonna and multiple other women. Lenny and Lisa separated in 1991, and she filed for divorce in 1993.
Lenny told Rolling Stone he was devastated that their marriage was coming to an end. And Lisa told Vibe magazine her heart was, quote, “blown open from just loving someone so much.” Thankfully, they were able to handle a peaceful co-parenting relationship and are still very close friends.
A transformation
Lenny would be linked to multiple women after that. In the ‘90s, he had a romance with actress Vanessa Paradis. The media attention became too much to handle. He told The Independent that even when they traveled to remote islands, the paparazzi would still follow them.
And then, his mom was diagnosed with cancer. And, according to The Guardian, after the release of his fourth album entitled Circus, he fell victim to the Hollywood lifestyle. His mom passed away in December 1995, and Lenny was overtaken with grief. He said, “My life was all over the place. Your mother leaves the planet, you’re dealing with these newfound trappings of fame. I had to change my personality.”
So at the age of 33, he began to transform himself from the inside out. He went to his ex-wife Lisa’s house and she pulled out a razor blade and cut off his dreadlocks. Lenny felt liberated.
Falling into a deep depression
By the late ‘90s, his talent was speaking for itself. He earned two Grammy awards and was able to play 15 different instruments, but the tabloids were more concerned with what was going on in his private life. He released his self-titled, sixth studio album in 2001. And a few months later, he fell into the depths of a deep depression.
He told The Independent he committed himself to a world tour and was unable to cancel it. So the shows went on. He was amazing on stage, but away from the public eye, he was living through the darkest period of his life. He said, “At heart, I’m a very positive person, so to be so negative, and for so long, was very tough on me.”
He would arrive in each city, go straight to his hotel room, pull the curtains closed, and hide underneath the bed sheets until it was time to be on stage. He said he hated every minute of every performance and the entire tour was an awful experience.
Under advice from his manager, he consulted a doctor and a psychiatrist. He was prescribed medication, but because he was against taking pills, he started to smoke instead. He began smoking every day and even employed someone on tour to exclusively roll joints for him morning, noon, and night.
For the first few months, he existed in a state of paranoia. But soon, the paranoia turned into numbness. He finally attributed the depression to the psychological baggage he was carrying around every day. He realized he gets lonely easily, but he was so bad at relationships that he had no choice but to spend time alone. That state of loneliness destroyed him on the inside. He told The Independent he really wanted to meet the perfect woman, but not just any woman. He wanted someone who would eventually become his wife.
After two years, he emerged from his crippling depression, but his goal to find a wife continued. He told The Independent, he has no problem meeting women. He just finds it difficult to meet the right woman. He said he has never been that interested in physical intimacy, he’s more concerned with finding someone he can talk with throughout the night and someone whose spirit connects with his.
A brief engagement
He dated pop singers Kylie Minogue and Natalie Imbruglia, but when he met actress Nicole Kidman, he was ready to seal the deal. According to the New York Daily News, they met when Nicole rented his Soho loft while filming the movie The Stepford Wives. They reportedly began dating in 2003. They met each other’s families, which was a big deal for both of them, and they got engaged quickly. But then, in December 2003, Lenny was spotted at a Miami nightclub with Brazilian artist Isis Arruda, and rumors that he had cheated on Nicole made headlines.
Lenny told the New York Daily News by the time the paparazzi images of him and Isis were released, his relationship with Nicole was already over. Nicole didn’t mention cheating being the cause of their breakup, either, during an interview with Vanity Fair. Without mentioning him by name, she told the publication she had gotten engaged but things just weren’t right between her and her fiancé, and they weren’t ready to take that next step. She added, “I get engaged and I get married — that’s my thing. I don’t want to date. I’m interested in a very, very deep connection.”
What’s next for Lenny?
It sounds like Lenny got cold feet, but we’ll probably never know what really went down. He moved on and was seen partying with actress Michelle Rodriguez on New Year’s Eve. He also told The Independent he had a two-year relationship with a South American girl who lived in a Miami “ghetto.”
In 2008, he made a vow of celibacy and told Maxim he would refrain from intimacy until he got married again. Since that interview, he wouldn’t confirm if he was still celibate or not, but he told Details magazine he’s still invested in marriage because he’s had enough of life as a single man.
By the time 2019 rolled around, Lenny was still single and looking. He told People magazine he’s holding out hope on meeting a forever love of his own. He said, “I’ve had a lot to learn, but I feel like I’m at a place where I’m really ready for that.”
We wish Lenny all the best on his journey to finding true love.
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