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Iman Says She Won't Remarry After David Bowie: ‘I Wait Until I Meet Him Again'

The entrepreneur and retired model opened up about how long it took her to grieve her husband's death in 2016 and shared her new project honoring his memory

Iman and David Bowie
Will Ragozzino/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Iman has no plans to marry again after losing husband David Bowie to cancer six years ago.

The 66-year-old entrepreneur and retired supermodel shared on TODAY Wednesday that she had an immediate answer when she was asked by their daughter, Lexi Jones, 21, if she would ever get remarried following the death of her husband of 24 years.

"No," she told Hoda Kotb. "People say to me when they talk, ‘Oh I loved your late husband,' and I said, ‘He’s not my late husband, he’s my husband,’ so that’s how I feel about it. This was truly the love of my life, and I just wait until I meet him again."

It took her four years after he died at 69 in 2016 to confront her grief, which hit her while she was confined at home during the early stages of the pandemic lockdown last year.

"I had a daughter who was a teenager when her father passed away, so I was really more concentrated in helping her go through her grief," Iman said. "But I thought, oh yes, I did go through my grief, but I actually did not.

"Last year I went to my house estate, this beautiful property that I haven’t spent time there since my husband passed away, and there I was stuck for the year and I was forced to deal with it. All of a sudden grief knocked on the door and became a companion. And I went through all of it, and now it is the joy that I remember."

Iman had been married twice and Bowie had been married once before they fell in love and tied the knot in 1992. She said she was "a huge fan" of his music and had been invited backstage to his concerts, but never accepted the offer because she felt "awkward."

She ended up moving to Los Angeles and finally met him a year later, where he later told her it was love at first sight.

"I think it was about destiny," she said. "Destiny really propelled me to go to L.A. for no obvious reason."

While the world knew Bowie for his musical talent and theatrical stage performances, Iman also knew him as a loving dad to Lexi, who is their only child together.

"He loved it, because we met late in life, and had been married before and had older children, so this was a choice, and he felt very safe at home with us," Iman said. "My daughter has witnessed the love between the two of us that she actually says now, 'I hope to God that I’ll meet a man who would love me as much as my dad loved my mom.'"

Iman is now releasing her first fragrance, Love Memoir, as a tribute to Bowie. She often has worn Bowie's cologne since his death in order to feel close to him and wanted the new fragrance to symbolize the "eternal love" they shared.

"He was visibly, really with us, and that is why I really feel that he’s still with us," she said. "He isn’t in plain sight, but he’s right there with us. I smell him and we see him every day on the property."

Iman's journey through her grief over his loss is ongoing, but has reached a place where she is celebrating their time together more than mourning his passing.

"I think there are days that are harder than others," she said. "I don’t think it will ever go away, but the acceptance of it, and the remembrance of the joy, rather than saying every memory that, 'Oh, I wish he was here, I wish we could experience this together.' Now I remember the 26 joyful years I had with my husband."

She had Hoda in tears at the end with her belief about losing loved ones.

"I think at the end of our days, the only thing we will have if we are lucky is our memories," she said. "That’s the thing that we will have and will sustain us after the person passes away."

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

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