David Bowie’s Daughter Lexi Says She Was Forcibly Sent to Treatment as a Teen

Alexandria “Lexi” Zahra Jones, the daughter of music legend David Bowie and supermodel Iman, is speaking out about her difficult teenage years.

In a recent Instagram video, the 25-year-old opened up about being forcibly taken to a treatment center at age 14. Lexi shared emotional details about her struggles with depression, an eating disorder and substance abuse during what she described as one of the most fragile times in her life.

Struggles After Her Father’s Cancer Diagnosis

Lexi said she reached her “breaking point” in 2014, the year her father was diagnosed with liver cancer. While other teens around her were experimenting with drugs and alcohol socially, she said her substance use came from a deeper place.

“For me, it wasn’t about fun,” she said. “I wasn’t experimenting, I was escaping.”

She described feeling overwhelmed by her thoughts, family life and school pressures. According to Lexi, when others stopped partying, she continued alone.

“You Can Do This the Easy Way or the Hard Way”

Lexi claimed she was forcibly removed from her family’s home shortly after Bowie’s diagnosis. She said her father read her a letter before she was taken away, ending it with the words: “I’m sorry we have to do this.”

She recalled two men arriving at the house on a weekday morning.

“They told me I could do this the easy way or the hard way,” Lexi said. “I chose the hard way.”

She said she clung to a table leg and screamed as she was pulled away and placed into a black SUV without knowing where she was going.

“I felt stripped of any right to stay in my own life,” she said.

Wilderness Therapy and Boarding School in Utah

Lexi alleged she was first taken to a wilderness therapy program, where she stayed for 91 days. She said she lived outdoors during winter conditions, slept under tarps and learned survival skills.

On arrival, she claimed she was strip-searched and given outdoor gear including snow pants, boots and a large backpack.

“We made fires by stripping birch bark and striking flint and steel,” she said. “I was a city girl. I didn’t even know this kind of program existed.”

After three months, Lexi said she was transferred to a residential treatment center and boarding school in Utah, where she remained for more than a year.

Learning of Bowie’s Death From Afar

Lexi was still at the treatment center when her father died on Jan. 10, 2016, at age 69.

David Bowie died after battling liver cancer. He also shared son Duncan Zowie Jones with his ex-wife, Angie Bowie.

Lexi said she was able to speak to her father two days before his death, on his birthday.

“I told him I loved him and he said it back, and we both knew,” she said.

However, she said she felt deeply hurt when public announcements stated that Bowie died surrounded by his entire family.

“Yeah, the whole family was there. Except for me,” Lexi said.

Reflecting on a Complicated Childhood

In her video, Lexi said she remains grateful for the opportunities she had growing up with two famous parents. However, she admitted she often questioned whether people wanted to be around her for genuine reasons.

Her emotional account sheds new light on her private struggles during her father’s illness and final years.

Neither Iman nor representatives for the Bowie estate have publicly responded to Lexi’s claims.

Bowie and Iman welcomed Lexi in 2000. The legendary musician’s death in 2016 marked the end of a decades-long career that reshaped rock music and pop culture.

Lexi’s video has sparked widespread conversation online about teen mental health, wilderness therapy programs and the pressures faced by children of celebrities.