For the first decade of her life, Zoë Kravitz lived with her mom, Lisa Bonet, after her parents split up.
But at age 11, Zoë Kravitz chose to move across the country to live with her dad, Lenny Kravitz, a decision she says she views differently now.
“I think it was very hurtful that I moved away from her to be with my dad and my dad wasn’t even there… I just wish I had been able to appreciate what she was doing for me,” Zoë Kravitz said of Bonet in her cover story for Esquire’s September 2024 issue.
“She was so focused on preserving my innocence. My creativity,” she also said of her mom. “Because she knew what the world is — that you don’t get that back.”
Zoë Kravitz's parents split up when she was four, according to the New York Times. For several years after, she primarily lived with her mother, leading what she described to Esquire as a “really quiet, really simple life.”
Her dad visited periodically, and Zoë Kravitz recalled these times as “a whirlwind of a completely different universe.”
When Zoë Kravitz moved to Miami to be with her dad, she said her life suddenly became much less structured, with fewer restrictions around things like TV viewing, snacking and shopping.
“It wasn’t that my dad didn’t care,” she said. “He just cared about different things.”
As she told Esquire, her newfound freedom eventually lost its allure.
“Just like it happens in the movies,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, you think this is perfect? You think this is great? Guess what comes with this.’ ”
Over the years, Zoë Kravitz has spoken warmly about both her mom and her dad. Read on to learn more about what the “Big Little Lies” star has said about her relationship with her parents, Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet.
Zoë Kravitz has praised her dad’s life 'adventures'
Zoë Kravitz honored her dad — while also roasting him for his fashion choices — at his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in March 2024.
“Being your daughter has been one of the great adventures of my life,” she said. “Since you were so young when I was born, in many ways we’ve grown up together. We’ve been through a lot. We’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen a lot."
She then went on to list that she's seen him change in the "most beautiful ways" and stay the same in the "most important ways."
“But mostly I’ve seen through your shirts,” she added, as her dad cracked up.
“According to my dad, if it doesn’t expose your nipples, it’s not a shirt,” she continued. “And sure, it used to embarrass me when he picked me up from school as a kid, but I gotta say, at this point, I respect it. You really do pull it off."
The “Fantastic Beasts” actor followed in her dad’s footsteps from a young age, and pursued both music and acting in her early career.
Lenny Kravitz, 60, has said he would also be open to collaborating with his daughter on a movie someday.
“We have discussed it, it would have to be the right thing,” he told People at the Oscars in March 2023.
“But I would love to work with her one day,” he added. “I adore her, and it would be a lot of fun.”
Lenny Kravitz has not remarried since splitting with Bonet.
Zoë Kravitz has spoken affectionately of her mom over the years
Zoë Kravitz has also maintained a close relationship with her mom over the years, and she has shared how Bonet kept her grounded as she was growing up.
“My mum did a really good job of keeping me sheltered,” she told Elle UK in 2018. “I didn’t have television growing up, and I didn’t have internet at the house. I was allowed to watch one movie a weekend that we had on VHS that she would choose.”
Bonet, 56, has two children in addition to Zoë Kravitz. She wed actor Jason Momoa in 2017 and they welcomed a daughter, Lola, in 2007, and a son, Nakoa-Wolf, in 2008.
Lenny Kravitz has previously opened up about how he, his daughter, Bonet and Momoa cultivated a loving blended family.
“People can’t believe how tight Jason and I are, or how tight I still am with Zoë’s mom, how we all relate,” Lenny Kravitz told Men’s Health in Oct. 2020. “We just do it because that’s what you do. You let love rule, right?”
Bonet and Momoa separated in 2020 and finalized their divorce in 2024.
“We have all felt the squeeze and changes of these transformational times,” the former couple shared in a statement, in part. “A revolution is unfolding ~ and our family is of no exception… feeling and growing from the seismic shifts occurring. And so~ We share our family news: That we are parting ways in marriage.”
