David Bowie's daughter reveals she was sent to rehab amid his cancer battle
David Bowie's daughter reveals she was sent to rehab amid his cancer battle
Anna Kaufman, USA TODAYWed, February 25, 2026 at 2:58 PM UTC
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David Bowie and supermodel Iman attend the DKMS' 5th Annual Gala: Linked Against Leukemia at Cipriani Wall Street on April 28, 2011, in New York City.
David Bowie's daughter is opening up about being sent to rehab amid her rocker dad's cancer battle.
Lexi Jones, the 25-year-old child of Bowie and model Iman, took to Instagram to share a lengthy video about being "forcibly" sent to rehab, where she said she was receiving treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues when her father died. Bowie wed Iman in 1992, and the pair were together until his 2016 death.
Jones said she began self-harming when she was 11 and developed bulimia when she was 12.
"When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I was at my breaking point," she said in the Feb. 18 Instagram post. "I was barely 14."
She continued: "I didn't want to stick around to watch it all fall apart. That's when I turned to drugs and alcohol."
In her "first year of high school … everyone around me was experimenting, but for me, it wasn't about fun," Jones said. "I wasn't experimenting. I was escaping – escaping from my complicated mind, my complicated family, my complicated school. When the party ended for everybody else, I kept going and I drank and got high alone."
USA TODAY has reached out to Iman's reps for comment.
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Jones went on to describe being sent to a "dehumanizing" rehab in the wilderness after her family sat her down for what felt like "an intervention," and Bowie read her a letter that she recalled saying, "I'm sorry we have to do this." After a stint lasting more than 90 days, she moved to a yearlong residential treatment center in Utah. While there, she learned of her father's death, she said.
"All of this was happening while my dad was only getting more sick back at home," she said.
"A few months into the program, my dad passed away. I was not there. I had the luxury of speaking to him two days before, on his birthday," she recalled. "I told him I loved him, and he said it back. And we both knew." Jones went on to say that, although it was difficult at the time, she is grateful for the effect the rehab had on her.
"I wish it had happened under better circumstances, but I can't pretend it didn't shape me into someone who sees people deeply, who feels things deeply, who creates from that place," she said.
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Bowie, a visionary British songwriter known for hits like "Starman" and "Let's Dance," died at 69 following a monthslong battle with cancer.
Bowie himself famously grappled with substance abuse at the peak of his popularity, but swore off drugs and stardom in the '80s, he told USA TODAY in 1990. "I don't see anything glorious about fame," Bowie said. "Anyone who strives for it must be out of their gourd."
Contributing: Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: David Bowie, Iman's daughter Lexi says she was in rehab when dad died
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
