#maryambadi and @The_Real_IMAN

Check out @sister_dora’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/sister_dora/status/716254130352824320?s=09

This photograph says so much to me. A loving newly wed couple. Supportive parents. Decadence and class. Tradition and culture. In the early 90s when David Bowie and Iman married it shook up the modeling and music worlds, in a great way. They were a talented, outspoken, beautiful interracial couple and the public was living for it. It screamed ART all around. I felt good about it not only because two icons bound their ever-creative lives together but because their skin color didn’t matter. Or maybe it did, maybe it was also a part of what was beautiful about them. They were married during a tumultuous time for me. The Los Angeles riots took place and then you had the OJ Simpson trial. These events pitted everyone against everyone. Suspicion crept into the psyches of people of all ages. You can’t trust anyone, maybe not even people who look like you, but especially people who don’t look like you.

Then I learned about public relations, “all press is good press” and faking it. How could this couple be so happy? Their wealth. Their lifestyle. The degree to which the world of fame and celebrity wanted to consume them. Iman and David were #couplegoals before hashtags. They were a partnership and they kept their relationship on lock. I mean, they can’t tell us ALL the secrets of how they kept their friendship and marriage healthy for so many years. But I do see they didn’t stop their lives and lose their ambition due to the wishes of the other. These people appear to be strong individually and intergalactic together. So, earlier this year when I discovered Bowie passed from a bout with cancer, I was hurt in general and then had a specific thought: what about his family? If his fans had undying love for him, what does it mean to be his friend or wife or children and suffer through this.

The other day I learned of the passing of Iman’s mother, just months after her husband. Of course she isn’t the only person who has experienced multiple intimate losses in a short period of time, but it is nonetheless devastating. Recently, Celine Dion lost her husband and her brother in the length of a breath.

I wish them the best as they heal from these difficult changes. I want to thank Iman for being the role model she is, her philanthropy, her self perception, her development as a young woman. She recognizes that albeit a pain, Iman was lucky to have attended the schools she experienced. She had no idea what it took for her parents to send her there, and the sacrifices of her mother, to help her start her life.

And here we are, some odd years later, worshipping at the altar of uniqueness, creativity and love. That’s what they gave us as a partnership. Neither star rose higher to outshine the other. They showed respect and reverence. Looking at the wedding photo (above) I see the confident nature of Maryam and David; with strong backs watching over the ones they left behind.

sister dora