The Untold Truth Of Zoe Kravitz
Just a few short months after Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet eloped, the former "Cosby Show" actor discovered she was pregnant. In December 1988, Bonet gave birth to a beautiful baby girl whom she and her husband named Zoë Kravitz. Although Zoë once told Rolling Stone that her parents weren't exactly trying for a baby at the time — Bonet threw her pregnancy test at her husband upon finding out — we're sure they've since come around.
Although Zoë Kravitz herself may have originally been known for having famous parents, she went on to pave her own way and create a name for herself. If you only just got a taste of Zoë's talent in the HBO drama series' "Big Little Lies" in 2017, you should know that was far from her first successful role. Acting is also not the only career this star has chosen. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about this incredible woman.
Her childhood was as wild as you could imagine
When Zoë Kravitz was a toddler, her parents decided to divorce and she went to live with her mom. However, it was not exactly the typical living situation. Rolling Stone described their community in Los Angeles' Topanga Canyon as a "hippie-ish enclave." It was there that Bonet raised chickens and dogs — one of which was part wolf. Lisa Bonet once told Net-A-Porter she had a "one foot in and one foot out" relationship with Hollywood and although she never left the business, she did find sanctuary in her quiet and private life.
When Zoë was 11, she decided to live with her dad. "That was a massive change," she recalled in Rolling Stone. "Going from this really quiet house in Topanga, just me and my mom, to my dad's life, which was very busy — lots of people, lots of assistants." Those "people" included the likes of Mick Jagger, Ashton Kutcher, and Nicole Kidman — the latter of whom Lenny Kravitz was engaged to for a time. Not your average upbringing, you could say.
Aquaman was her stepdad
Although Zoë' Kravitz's father, Lenny Kravitz, has yet to settle down with anyone else after his divorce, Lisa Bonet found love again with Jason Momoa. Yes, Aquaman. Despite the 13 years between them, the two clicked instantly when they first crossed paths in 2004. As she told Net-A-Porter in 2018, Bonet and Momoa's connection was so strong that she not only gave him a ride home from the jazz club where they met, but they went out for a quick meal. Three years after their fateful meeting, the couple welcomed their first child together, Lola. In 2008, Bonet gave birth to her third child, Nakfa-Wolf.
It was thought that the stunning couple married between the births of their first and second child, but it seems Momoa only officially became Zoë's stepdad over a decade after his romance with her mom began. Despite Momoa's frequent references to Bonet as his "wife" in interviews, the couple did not legally marry until fall 2017, according to People.
Sadly, Zoë's mom and stepdad's relationship eventually ran its course: In January 2022, the longtime couple announced their separation. Momoa was a major part of Zoë's life for nearly two decades, and by all accounts, she harbors no ill will toward her mom's ex. As a source told E! News, "[Zoë] loves them both but understands that it was time for them to move on."
She was in a Jay-Z music video
In addition hanging out with the stars in her family, Zoë Kravitz hobnobs with other very famous people. And turns out, even Hollywood kids still get starstruck.
More than a decade ago, Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet's daughter starred in a music video for one of the most influential rappers of our time: Jay-Z. Zoë explained how she got the part in an interview with ASOS magazine (via Hello Beautiful).
"I'd met Jay a few times, and then he asked me to be in his video for 'I Know.' After that we became really good friends and now he's one of my favorite people," she divulged to the magazine. Zoë acknowledged the peculiarity of her friendship with the artist, saying, "It sounds so weird when you say it because he's f***ing Jay-Z! But what's so weird is that he's such a cool guy that sometimes I wish he wasn't Jay-Z so we could hang out all day long and walk around and talk s*** because I love him." We hear that.
She's all about matching tattoos
Jason Momoa took to Instagram in 2016 to share a photo of the tattoo he got while he was shooting "Game of Thrones." The ink reads "etre toujours ivre" (translation: "always be drunk") and is likely a line from the 19th century poet Charles Baudelaire's poem "Be Drunk." Photos of Zoë Kravitz confirm that she has the French script tattoo on her right forearm — the very same spot as Momoa's. This is not the first time Zoë has gotten a matching tat. Lenny Kravitz and Zoë have the Martin Luther King Jr. quote "Free at Last"; Zoë and her godmother, who just so happens to be Marisa Tomei, also both have tattoos of eyes.
"It's a deep way to adorn yourself, and I think they're beautiful aesthetically," Zoë said of her ink collection in a 2018 chat with InStyle. As of this writing, Zoë is believed to have over 50 tattoos. We have a feeling that number will only continue to grow.
Zoë Kravitz is a talented musician, too
Much like her father, who is able to bounce back and forth between the worlds of music and acting, Zoë Kravitz is artistically gifted in more ways than one. In 2011, Zoë and her three bandmates from the group Elevator Fight debuted their record "Post Empire." If you haven't listened to any of their music, it won't take much more than hearing a few riffs to recognize Zoë's vocal ability.
Although Elevator Fight eventually dissolved, Zoë founded an all new electronic R&B band, Lolawolf, and released an album in 2014. The band, which was named after her half-siblings, went on to see some very real success. In 2016, they performed at the renowned music festival Bonnaroo, and also began recording yet another album. Clearly, the daughter of Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz has no problem following in both of her parents' footsteps.
She is not to be messed with
Zoë Kravitz looks every bit the part of a cool, tough chick. But, is it all a facade? Not likely. For one, she starred in "Mad Max: Fury Road," which is considered by some to be the most dangerous movie ever made. And Kravitz isn't one to shy away from taking part in the real action.
As Shailene Woodley confirmed to the AP, she, Kravitz, and Miles Teller were responsible for doing many of their own stunts in the filming of "Divergent." In fact, it was during that shoot when Kravitz experienced a scary injury. Ironically, she was hurt not while shooting, but during her lunch break in Woodley's trailer on the last day of filming. "I'm sitting there and all of a sudden, I'm like, 'Hey! (makes crashing noise) And the door just slams closed on my face, and I just feel blood start coming down," she divulged to SheKnows. In the end, Kravitz ended up needing eight stitches across her nose — and has the scar to prove it.
For 2022's "The Batman," Kravitz and the stunt coordinator really dug into the physicality when it came time to create her action scenes. "We watched cats and lions and how they fight," she told Empire. "So we did some really interesting floor work that incorporated different kinds of martial arts and capoeira and a kind of feline, dance-like movement."
She used to be anti-Instagram
Instagram was launched in 2010, but it would take Zoë Kravitz a few years to embrace the platform. In March 2014, the Lolawolf singer and actor revealed to SheKnows how she felt about social media at the time: "[It] freaks me out, man ... freaks me out." Like many of us who felt that way at first, Kravitz would go on to change her mind — just three months later. Beginning with a photo of herself dancing alongside her mom, Kravitz would become an avid Instagrammer in no time. As of this writing, she has racked up over 8 million followers.
Although she has not commented on what changed her mind, she did tell the publication back in 2014 that she carried a set of strong beliefs — many of which she now shares online. "I believe in women's rights. I believe in peace. I believe in avocados. I believe in freedom of speech. I believe in fairies," she remarked, "I believe in a lot of things!"
In 2021, Kravitz deleted all of her Instagram posts after she received a barrage of harsh comments about the barely-there Saint Laurent dress she wore to the Met Gala. "I was really hurt," she told The Guardian. "No matter who you are, how confident you are, people telling you that you're disgusting, or that you should kill yourself, it doesn't feel good." She has since returned to the platform.
The sweet reason she chose to bare it all for Rolling Stone
On the cover of the November 2018 issue of Rolling Stone, Zoë Kravitz appeared sans clothes — with strategically placed arms and hands, of course. The cover is actually a recreation of Lisa Bonet's photoshoot with the magazine all the way back in 1988. Unlike her daughter's adaptation, Bonet's risqué photo was used inside the issue. Bonet still made the cover, but unlike her daughter, she was clad in a loose-fitting white shirt.
"I think she was a little bummed when they used the shirt picture as the cover," Kravitz told Rolling Stone, "I think she just thought, 'I'm doing it, let's do it!'" So, Kravitz paid homage to her mom by doing what she'd wished she'd been able to do over three decades prior. "It's less about the picture and more about doing the thing my mom intended to do," Kravitz revealed. "That feels cool."
She was secretly engaged to her ex-husband months before it went public
During her aforementioned interview with Rolling Stone, journalist Josh Eells noticed a massive rock on her ring finger. When he asked her about it, she said, "Oh yeah, I'm engaged." At first, her nonchalant tone led Eells to question if she was being serious. She confirmed that she and then-beau, actor Karl Glusman, were indeed set to wed. Kravitz also noted that there was a good reason for why he wasn't aware of her relationship status change. "I haven't told anyone yet — I mean, I haven't told the world," she specified. "I wanted to keep it private."
Just as Kravitz was low-key about her engagement, she remained tight-lipped when she and Glusman ended up divorcing in August 2021. In a 2022 interview with Elle, she gracefully declined to go into detail about the circumstances that led to the dissolution of the marriage. "I don't really want to go into that. Karl's an incredible human being," she said. "It really is less about him and more about me learning how to ask myself questions about who I am and still learning who I am, and that being okay. That's the journey I'm on right now."
She identifies as queer — and so does her version of Catwoman
Zoë Kravitz is proud to be a member of the queer community. In 2020, she officially came out by posing for iO Tillett Wright's photography book "Self Evident Truths: 10,000 Portraits of Queer America," which features portraits of LGBTQ people from across all fifty states. That same year, she brought representation to the screen by starring as a bisexual woman named Rob in Hulu's television remake of the 2000 film "High Fidelity" (which, by the way, featured her mother Lisa Bonet). Speaking to KCRW, she emphasized the series' three-dimensional portrayal of her character: "The show is about a person who is a little mentally unstable and selfish, and it doesn't really matter what gender you are or what you look like. If you're not a good person, then your relationships are going to suffer, right?"
In 2022, Kravitz played another bisexual character: Selina Kyle. Yep, as in the DC Comics anti-heroine who goes by the alter ego Catwoman. Historically, Selina has been represented as straight onscreen, despite the fact that she's attracted to women in the comics. Kravitz broke that streak with her portrayal in Matt Reeves' "The Batman." In one scene, Selina refers to her female roommate as her "baby." When Pedestrian asked Kravitz if the line was a nod to Selina's sexuality, she answered in the affirmative: "That's definitely the way I interpreted that, that they had some kind of romantic relationship."
She's been open about her struggles with eating disorders and mental health
It's not easy being in the limelight. Unfortunately, Zoë Kravitz knows this all too well. In a 2015 interview with Complex, she disclosed that her first-hand exposure to celebrity culture gave her body image issues in her teenage years, to the point where she battled both anorexia and bulimia in high school. "I think it was part of being a woman, and being surrounded by [fame] ... I don't think it was about the fame, but I think it was definitely about being around that world, seeing that world," she said. "I felt pressured."
Kravitz opened up about her struggles again in a 2022 interview with Glamour. When reporter Ali Pantony asked her how she managed her mental health, her response was heartfelt. "Everyone has their own journey. I've struggled myself with eating disorders and pressure to look a certain way," she said. "Now, I've found a really wonderful balance in terms of putting my mental health and my body first. I can't perform if I don't have fuel, and if I don't feel well."
In the same interview, Kravitz was honest about the stress of filming "The Batman," particularly with regard to maintaining an athletic physique in a healthy manner. "It was a really intense time ... I tried to be as healthy as I could, in terms of the physicality of it, and wanting to be in shape and wanting to feel good," she said.
It took her a while to become comfortable in her own skin
Just as she has spoken out about her mental health struggles, actor Zoë Kravitz has been transparent about her experience as a biracial woman in the film and TV industry — and in the world at large. In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, she admitted that she felt self-conscious about her features while growing up. "I felt really insecure about my hair, relaxing it, putting chemicals in it, plucking my eyebrows really thin. I was uncomfortable with my blackness," she told reporter Sirin Kale. "It took me a long time to not only accept it but to love it and want to scream it from the rooftops."
Kravitz ultimately developed confidence by looking back on her famous forebears — not only her parents, but paternal grandmother Roxie Roker, who played the lead in '70s sitcom "The Jeffersons." The show was notably the first to portray an interracial couple.
The "High Fidelity" actor found the strength to embrace her heritage more fully after, as she said in The Guardian, "realizing what it meant for my grandmother to get a job on 'The Jeffersons,' and be a Black woman on TV, and what it meant for her to be in a biracial relationship on television. And to hear stuff that my mother tells me about being a biracial girl in the 1970s, and being abused or being spit on, and what that felt like."
Her upcoming directorial debut has a provocative title
More cautious directors might shy away from naming a film "Pussy Island," fearing potential backlash. Zoë Kravitz, on the other hand, isn't interested in censoring or changing that title. The upcoming film, which grapples with the treatment of women in high society settings, marks her debut as a director and feature screenwriter, and she's determined for it to make a splash. "The title is the seed of the story. It represents this time where it would be acceptable for a group of men to call a place that, and the illusion that we're out of that time now," she told the Wall Street Journal in a 2022 interview. Kravitz co-wrote the script with E.T. Feigenbaum, whom she worked with in the writer's room for Hulu's "High Fidelity" series. She sent it to Donald Glover and Steven Soderbergh for feedback before shooting a sizzle reel to give potential production companies a chance to see her vision. Ultimately, MGM purchased the film.
"Pussy Island," the Wall Street Journal reports, will star Naomi Ackie and Channing Tatum as a cocktail waitress who receives an invitation to a private island and the tech mogul who runs it, respectively. Speaking to Deadline, Kravitz called the experience of working on the film "an incredible education in storytelling." "This is my first feature and it's taken many years to get to this point and I'm very excited," she said. "There's absolutely a thriller element to the film, but it has comedy, drama, and real heart."
She met fiancé Channing Tatum on the job
When Zoë Kravitz and Channing Tatum first crossed paths, their shared spark was solely creative. While drafting "Pussy Island," according to Deadline, Kravitz immediately thought of Tatum for the male lead. "Chan was my first choice, the one I thought of when I wrote this character," she said. "I got the sense he's a true feminist and I wanted to collaborate with someone who was clearly interested in exploring this subject matter." Tatum was presently surprised when Kravitz contacted him: "This came out of nowhere ... No one gives me a chance to play a role like this, everybody throws me down a different alley and expects me to do a certain thing. It was scary and liberating."
Soon, the two stars found themselves connecting on another level. People confirmed that they were dating in September 2021. By November 2022, Kravitz was gushing about her relationship with Tatum in GQ. She emphasized his presence as a guiding light while she was working on "Pussy Island." "Whether it was making me tea or pouring me a drink or going to whip someone into shape or whatever — he really was my protector and it was really wonderful and sweet," she said. "I think if you can do something like that together, it's a good test."
It seems like the bond between Kravitz and Tatum is stronger than ever. In October 2023, People shared a Halloween snapshot that showed Kravitz flaunting an engagement ring.
If you need help with an eating disorder, or know someone who does, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.