David Bowie and Iman in New York in 2010
Photo: © Lucas Jackson / Reuters/ REUTERS
Supermodel Iman Abdulmajid, known as Iman, has graced the cover of Britain's Vogue January issue - where she opened up about her enduring love for her husband David Bowie, who died in 2016.
The couple had been married since 1992.
“He's not my 'deceased husband.'
He's my husband," the Guardian quoted the 67-year-old as saying.
The exceptional musician Bowie died of cancer.
"I don't mind being called 'David Bowie's wife,'" Iman continued.
“But I always remind people that I existed before I met him.
And he was very determined too.
He never introduced me by saying, 'This is my wife.'
He always said, 'That's Iman, my wife',' she says.
“So we both already had our own identities.
We were apart together."
After Bowie's death, she also had difficulty finding a space to mourn privately.
It was frustrating when people said they shared their pain.
"It was too much," she says.
"We lived a very private life and suddenly it felt like my daughter and I had a target on our heads," she says.
It went so far that they had to leave their house in New York "because the public was constantly outside the door."
The 67-year-old, who was one of the most sought-after models in the 1970s and 1980s, also spoke about the fashion industry and its resistance to age stereotypes.
She called the obsession with youth a "very Western mentality."
"I'm from Africa - we celebrate getting older," she says.
»It was never a problem for me«.
This year saw the release of the documentary "Moonage Daydream" about David Bowie by director Brett Morgan.
Countless original recordings, including interview sequences and concert recordings, are interwoven there, read more about this here.
ah