Having an internationally famous rock star dad like David Bowie was probably interesting for Duncan and Lexi Jones. All celebrity children grow up around some pretty weird things no ordinary kids do, and Bowie's kids were no different. Sadly now that their father has died, they have to live on without him, and have made lives for themselves.
When Duncan Jones was born just as his father was becoming a famous rock star in 1971, they called him Zowie Bowie. With all the success Bowie was getting at the time, he, of course, tried to push music onto his son as much as possible, and teach him to play an instrument, but Jones wouldn't have any of it.
"He tried to get me to learn the drums but I didn’t want to," Jones told Daily Mail. "The saxophone? No. Piano? No. Guitar – no thanks! Bless him. He kept on trying and nothing was happening. Nothing would take. I don’t know if subconsciously there was some reaction going on; if there was something in me that didn’t want to learn an instrument – because I couldn’t have been that incompetent! He’d say, 'You have to practice…' and I was like, 'But I don’t want to practice…' It didn’t interest me so it wasn’t going to happen."
Jones, who chose to go by Bowie's real last name, started to make a name for himself outside of his father's life. But that doesn't mean Bowie's way of life didn't have any effect on Jones as a kid growing up on movie sets, and the backstages in the height of the glam rock scene. In fact Bowie's interest in films sparked his own fascination with film, which has gotten him to where he is now, a successful Hollywood director.
"I’d see the amazing sets being built, how the make-up worked," Jones said. "In 'The Hunger,' Dad had to age at one point to become an old man and I remember him scaring the s*** out of me." Jones also said that being on the set of his father's film Labyrinth also made a huge impression on him. Bowie had an extreme wealth of knowledge on films that Jones was able to take from and they watched films together all the time. As Jones started looking into movie making, Bowie was always supportive and, "he gave me the time and the support to find my feet and the confidence to do what I do."
Now, Jones has gone on to make sci-fiction films like Moon, Source Code, and Warcraft, which is funny considering his father was obsessed with all things sci-fi. Multiple Bowie songs, Bowie's own glam rock style, and a film that featured Bowie as an alien can all tell you that he loved space and aliens, so it's funny his son finds it just as interesting.
In 2009, Moon, which featured Sam Rockwell, earned him a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British writer, director or producer. He worked with Jake Gyllenhaal in Source Code, and Warcraft saw the first live-action adaptation of the famous video game. More recently Jones has worked on Mute, another sci-fi film starring Paul Rudd and Alexander Skarsgard. Currently he's working on an adaptation of sci-fi comic called Rogue Trooper.
Jones has a family of his own now too. He married his wife Rodene in 2012, and together they have two children, Stenton David Jones, who was born exactly six months after Bowie died in 2016, and their daughter Zowie named after what Bowie used to call Jones.
Bowie's other child, Alexandria Zahra Jones, or Lexi for short, was born thirty years after her brother, during a completely different time in their father's career. In 2000 Bowie was still making music but sort of became a stay at home dad to raise his daughter. Instead of growing up during the peak of her father's stardom, and accompanying him on tours and on movie sets like Duncan, Lexi had a quiet life living with Bowie and her mother Iman.
Lexi was 16 when her father died, and up until then he'd kept her life virtually private. But now she is 19 and as she's gotten older and using social media, we've learned more about her. On her Instagram, she showcases a lot of her art her makes, and there is a link to her DePop account where you can purchase her art for prices around $200.
As for following in her mother, supermodel Iman's footsteps? Iman thinks she can wait. "She says I am overprotective," Iman told Porter. "But I told her, this can all wait, it isn’t going anywhere. Have a life that is private while you can, because one day soon it is going to be public, so enjoy this." Bowie's widow knows better and added, "every agency, every designer, called me to say: 'If she wants to, we’d love for her to model for us.' I said: 'No, she doesn’t.' I know why they wanted her to model. It’s because she is David Bowie’s daughter."
Whether or not Lexi becomes a model, she's got time, and a lot of other talents up her sleeve to possibly explore in her future. Lexi has her mother to show her the ropes and even big bro who describes their relationship by saying, "I am 30 years older. My relationship with her is more like a fun uncle." But it is interesting to see how both of Bowie's children are interested in the arts. Starman himself would be very proud no doubt.