In the midst of all the shock and mourning that has taken place after the sudden death of rock icon David Bowie, his loyal wife, the Somali-American model Iman is now in the spotlight.
Bowie – David Jones in real life – succumbed to liver cancer at the age of 69 on Sunday, after being diagnosed 18 months earlier. Just two days before his untimely passing, he celebrated his birthday and released his latest album, Blackstar.
David Bowie has died. In 2013 our sister magazine, Intelligent Life, looked back at his looks and guises pic.twitter.com/yFHp81I4Bl
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) January 11, 2016
Signs of his secret struggle with cancer are now seen through the Twitter page of Iman, who posted several cryptic messages a few days before Bowie’s death.
Iman regularly posts inspirational quotes with the hashtag, “imandaily” and on Saturday, she shared a particularly poignant one.
Rise #imandaily pic.twitter.com/GUZxpddfY4
— Iman Abdulmajid (@The_Real_IMAN) January 9, 2016
“Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory,” the 60-year-old model and cosmetics mogul tweeted.
The next day, she posted another moving message that said, “The struggle is real, but so is God,” along with the caption “Rise.” The next day, David Bowie passed away.
Rise #imandaily pic.twitter.com/pkR1L1zXJ0
— Iman Abdulmajid (@The_Real_IMAN) January 10, 2016
Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid and David Bowie had been married for 24 years. A feature done by E! chronicles the their love story and lasting marriage, which is not quite typical of celebrity couples.
David Bowie and Iman: A look back at one of the greatest romances of all time: https://t.co/vPZOMeFWo0 pic.twitter.com/lSm34mJk1V
— POPSUGAR (@POPSUGAR) January 12, 2016
The articles describes how Bowie instantly fell in love with Iman when they met for the first time at a dinner party. The Somali-born model, on the other hand, was not too keen about hooking up with a rock star, especially having experienced being married and going through a divorce.
A determined David Bowie proceeded to pursue her until she fell in love with him, too. “David changed my mind. He wooed me,” Iman said in a 2014 interview with The Guardian.
Iman and David Bowie share a 15-year-old daughter named Alexandria Zahra. The Ziggy Stardust singer also has a 44-year-old son named Duncan with his first wife Angela Barnett.