Zulekha Haywood: The Daughter of a Supermodel Who Refused to Let Either of Her Parents Define Her

Zulekha Haywood, That is the sentence that matters most when understanding Zulekha Haywood. She grew up the daughter of Iman — one of the most photographed women in the world, a supermodel whose face appeared on the covers of every major fashion magazine, whose body was studied and documented and celebrated for decades. And she was overweight from childhood through her mid-twenties, in a household where a mother’s response to overeating was to whisper a single Italian word: “Basta.” Enough.

She underwent bariatric surgery at 28. She lost more than 160 pounds. Then she wrote a Glamour essay and said:

“Looking back, the lesson that a woman’s worth can never be found on a scale is one that I have known all along. I’m proud of the fact that at 330 pounds, I didn’t hide from life, and I didn’t let my weight define me. At 165 pounds, I won’t do that either.”

She built a career in business analysis across multiple corporations. She has a daughter named Lavinia. She does not have a public social media presence. She does not give interviews as a rule. She is, at 47 years old in 2026, a private person who happens to have one of the most publicly scrutinized family trees in American and British celebrity culture.

This is her story — told accurately, with its conflicts named rather than smoothed over.

Quick Facts

Detail	Information
Full name	Zulekha Haywood
Born	July 5, 1978, USA
Age (2026)	47 years old
Zodiac	Cancer
Nationality	American
Ethnicity	Mixed — Somali-American (mother’s side); African-American (father’s side)
Mother	Iman (born Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid; Somali-American supermodel and entrepreneur)
Father	Spencer Haywood (former NBA player; Olympic gold medalist; born April 22, 1949)
Parents married	1977
Parents divorced	1987 (Zulekha was 9)
Stepfather	David Bowie (married Iman 1992; died January 10, 2016)
Half-sister from Iman-Bowie	Alexandria Zahra Jones (b. August 15, 2000)
Half-siblings from Spencer	Courtney Nikkiah Haywood; Shaakira Haywood; Isis Chanel Haywood (from Spencer and Linda Haywood)
Step-brother	Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s son from Angela Bowie; film director)
Education	Mercy High School; Michigan State University (degree)
Career	Accountant/analyst — Iman Cosmetics; Jay Manuel Beauty; Portu Sunberg; Taymark Inc.; McShares Inc.
Surgery	Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery at age 28 (2006); complications; ICU; second surgery required
Weight before surgery	Approximately 330 pounds
Weight after	Settled at approximately 165 pounds (size 8)
Daughter	Lavinia Rose Young (born August 14, 2017)
Personal life	Not publicly confirmed in detail — see discrepancy section below
Net worth (est.)	Approximately $4 million
Social media	No active public Instagram; inactive Twitter; LinkedIn confirmed

The Parents — Two Giants in Two Different Worlds

Understanding Zulekha Haywood requires understanding the specific weight of the two people she was born between.

Iman — born Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid on July 25, 1955, in Mogadishu, Somalia — is one of the most significant supermodels in fashion history. She was discovered in 1975 by photographer Peter Beard, who brought her to New York and launched a career that made her the face of designers from Yves Saint Laurent to Gianni Versace. She appeared on the covers of Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and dozens of other international magazines. In 1994, she founded Iman Cosmetics — a beauty brand specifically designed for women of color, at a time when mainstream cosmetics largely ignored non-white skin tones. The business was genuinely innovative and commercially successful. She was also, from April 24, 1992 until January 10, 2016, the wife of David Bowie — one of the most influential recording artists of the 20th century.

Spencer Haywood — born April 22, 1949, in Silver City, Mississippi — was an NBA forward who played for the Denver Rockets, Seattle SuperSonics, New York Knicks, New Orleans Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers, and Washington Bullets across a career from 1969 to 1983. He was an Olympic gold medalist, having played for the United States national team at the 1968 Mexico City Games. He won an NBA All-Star selection multiple times. He is also notable for the legal case that bears his name — the “Haywood Rule” — which established that players could enter the NBA draft before completing four years of college, fundamentally changing professional basketball’s relationship with young talent.

Spencer and Iman married in 1977. Zulekha was born in 1978. They divorced in 1987 when Zulekha was nine years old.

In his autobiography, Spencer Haywood made serious claims about Iman’s conduct during their marriage and its aftermath — specifically accusing her of being emotionally abusive toward Zulekha and of having a damaging effect on his own life. These are his claims, from his perspective, in his own book. They are part of the documented public record. They are not independently verified accounts of what actually occurred.

Growing Up Between Two Worlds

Zulekha went to Mercy High School and then Michigan State University, where she earned her degree. The details of where she lived — with which parent, in which city, in which years — are not fully documented in any public source, though one source states that Spencer Haywood received custody after the legal separation, suggesting she spent more time with her father.

What is documented is the texture of her childhood as she has described it herself. She began dieting at age eight. She was overweight in a household with a supermodel mother and an elite athlete father — two people whose physical condition was, for both of them, literally professional. The pressure this created on a child already prone to weight gain is not difficult to imagine.

Iman’s approach was the “Basta” diet: whenever Zulekha was in danger of overeating, her mother would whisper the Italian word for “enough.” Zulekha has described this as her mother’s way of helping — not a screaming confrontation but a quiet signal. Spencer’s approach was “Eat Like a Pig, Run Like a Horse” — eat what you want, but exercise aggressively enough to compensate.

Neither worked. The diets would produce temporary results and then lose effect. The midnight snacking habit she had inherited from her father would reassert itself. By her twenties, she weighed approximately 330 pounds and had developed physical complications — heel spurs, swollen knees — that made daily life increasingly difficult.

She did not, by her own account, hide. She went to school. She built a career. She was present in her own life at 330 pounds in a way that required a specific kind of self-possession that she has since articulated publicly.

The Surgery — What Actually Happened

Most articles about Zulekha Haywood describe her surgery vaguely as a “gastric band” procedure. This appears to be inaccurate.

The more specific and better-sourced accounts — including the Glamour essay she wrote — identify the procedure as a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. These are different surgeries. A gastric band restricts stomach size through an adjustable band. A Roux-en-Y gastric bypass reroutes the digestive system more fundamentally, creating a small stomach pouch and connecting it directly to the small intestine, bypassing most of the stomach.

She had the surgery at age 28. The procedure encountered complications. She was admitted to the ICU. A second surgery was required to address the complications.

She described her recovery in documented interviews. The weight loss followed the recovery:

Within six months of surgery, she had lost 80 pounds and was able to shop at regular clothing stores — H&M, she specifically mentioned — for the first time.

Within one year, she had lost 160 pounds and was a size 6, regularly being mistaken for a model.

By eighteen months, she had settled at approximately 165 pounds and a size 8.

The physical transformation was dramatic. But the statement she published in Glamour afterwards — “I’m proud of the fact that at 330 pounds, I didn’t hide from life, and I didn’t let my weight define me” — makes clear that she did not process the surgery as a rescue from an unacceptable self. She had built her self-worth independently of the scale. The surgery was a health decision, not a capitulation to the beauty standards her parents embodied professionally.

David Bowie — The Stepfather She Had for Twenty-Four Years

Iman married David Bowie on April 24, 1992. Zulekha was thirteen years old.

David Bowie — born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947 — was one of the most significant recording artists of the 20th century. Ziggy Stardust. The Thin White Duke. Major Tom. “Heroes.” “Life on Mars.” “Let’s Dance.” His career spanned five decades and produced some of the most inventive music in rock and pop history.

He was Zulekha’s stepfather from the time she was thirteen until his death. They had twenty-four years of family life together. What that relationship was like — whether warm, whether distant, whether complicated — Zulekha has never described publicly.

Bowie died on January 10, 2016, two days after his sixty-ninth birthday and two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer eighteen months earlier and kept the diagnosis private until the end.

Iman was devastated. In a 2022 Hello Magazine interview, she described the period after his death as “too much” and said: “We lived a very private life and suddenly it felt like there was a target on mine and my daughter’s head.”

The “my daughter” in that context was Alexandria Zahra Jones — Iman and Bowie’s biological daughter, born August 15, 2000. But Zulekha was also her daughter, also affected by the loss, also grieving a man who had been in her life since she was thirteen.

The Half-Sister Who Grew Up in the Same Household

Alexandria Zahra Jones — Iman and Bowie’s daughter — was born in 2000 when Zulekha was twenty-two. She is twenty-two years younger than Zulekha’s other half-siblings from Spencer Haywood’s side and represents the intersection of two different family stories.

Zulekha has three half-sisters from Spencer’s second marriage to Linda Haywood: Courtney Nikkiah, Shaakira, and Isis Chanel. Linda Haywood died in 2022. Spencer’s Wikipedia article confirms he also has a step-brother connection to rapper Common — Spencer was lifelong friends with Common’s late father and is Common’s godfather.

Duncan Jones — David Bowie’s son from his first marriage to Angie Bowie — is Zulekha’s step-brother. Duncan Jones is a film director, best known for Moon (2009) and Source Code (2011).

Zulekha’s family tree spans Somali royalty, the NBA, classic rock, and British cinema. She works in business analysis and supply chain strategy.

The Career She Built — Starting at Her Mother’s Company

After graduating from Michigan State University, Zulekha entered the workforce at the most obvious starting point: Iman Cosmetics, her mother’s company. She spent three years there, beginning as an accountant, earning a promotion to account manager, and eventually reaching the role of revenue and demand planning manager.

Then she left.

The rest of her documented career trace goes:

Jay Manuel Beauty — senior business analyst and brand manager. Jay Manuel is a Canadian beauty expert and television personality, known primarily from America’s Next Top Model. His beauty brand hired Zulekha at a senior level — an indication that her Iman Cosmetics experience had genuine transferable value, not just nepotism-adjacent access.

Portu Sunberg — inventory analyst. She left in 2016 after approximately eight months.

Taymark Inc. — buyer and strategic sourcing analyst. Taymark is a retail and direct marketing company based in Minnesota, operating gift and collectibles brands. This is a mainstream corporate role with no celebrity connection.

McShares Inc. — her most recent confirmed employer per LinkedIn. McShares is a financial services company.

The career trajectory is notable for its movement away from entertainment-adjacent companies. She began at her mother’s brand, then moved to another beauty brand, then into supply chain and sourcing roles at non-celebrity companies. The later career stages are straightforwardly corporate — a business analyst navigating procurement and inventory in environments with no connection to fashion or entertainment.

The Personal Life Discrepancy — Addressed Directly

Here is where the public record becomes genuinely contradictory and requires transparency.

Multiple sources state that Zulekha Haywood married a man named Jason Young in 2016 and that they had a daughter, Lavinia Rose Young, in August 2017. Spencer Haywood’s Instagram post from April 2018 shows him with Zulekha and Lavinia, which confirms the daughter’s existence and name.

However, thecelebsinfo.com — which appears to be one of the more specifically sourced articles about her, citing the Glamour essay and the ICU complication — describes Zulekha as a “single mother” who gave birth to Lavinia in July 2017, and mentions a previous boyfriend named Eric as a possible father whose relationship with Zulekha had ended.

These two accounts — married to Jason Young, and single mother with possible father named Eric — are in direct conflict.

The Lavinia Rose Young article on The City Celeb states she was born August 14, 2017, to “Zulekha Haywood and her husband Jason Young” and that “her parents, Zulekha Haywood and Jason Young, married in 2016.”

The Jason Young version is more widely cited. The “single mother / Eric” version is from one source and cannot be independently confirmed. This article notes both versions are in circulation and cannot determine which is accurate based on available documentation.

What is unambiguously confirmed: Zulekha has a daughter named Lavinia Rose, born in 2017. Spencer Haywood’s own Instagram confirms this.

Her Own Words — The Only Primary Source That Matters

Zulekha Haywood has written about her experience with weight, body image, and surgery. The Glamour essay is the most significant primary source in her public record. The quote most widely cited from it:

“Looking back, the lesson that a woman’s worth can never be found on a scale is one that I have known all along. I’m proud of the fact that at 330 pounds, I didn’t hide from life, and I didn’t let my weight define me. At 165 pounds, I won’t do that either.”

She has also documented her career on LinkedIn. She does not maintain a public Instagram. She has an inactive Twitter account. She has given no known interviews beyond the Glamour weight loss essay.

The entirety of what Zulekha Haywood has voluntarily said for public consumption can be read in approximately fifteen minutes. Everything else written about her is other people describing her, often with varying degrees of accuracy.

What Is Known vs. What Is Not

Confirmed or well-sourced:

• Born July 5, 1978, USA
• Daughter of Iman (born Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid) and Spencer Haywood
• Parents married 1977; divorced 1987 (Zulekha was 9)
• Attended Mercy High School; graduated Michigan State University
• Stepfather David Bowie (Iman married him April 24, 1992; died January 10, 2016)
• Half-sister Alexandria Zahra Jones (Iman and Bowie’s daughter, b. 2000)
• Half-sisters from Spencer: Courtney Nikkiah, Shaakira, Isis Chanel (mother: Linda Haywood, died 2022)
• Step-brother Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s son; film director)
• “Basta” diet from mother in childhood; “Eat Like a Pig, Run Like a Horse” from father
• Weighed approximately 330 pounds by mid-twenties
• Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery at age 28 (approximately 2006); ICU complications; second surgery required
• Lost approximately 165 pounds; settled at approximately 165 pounds, size 8
• Glamour essay confirmed — quote about scale and self-worth documented
• Career: Iman Cosmetics → Jay Manuel Beauty → Portu Sunberg → Taymark Inc. → McShares Inc.
• Daughter Lavinia (born 2017) confirmed by Spencer Haywood Instagram post
• No active public social media; LinkedIn confirmed; inactive Twitter
• Net worth estimated approximately $4 million

Disputed or unverified:

• Married Jason Young in 2016 (widely cited) vs. single mother / father named Eric (one source)
• Lavinia’s birth date: July 2017 (one source) vs. August 14, 2017 (multiple sources)
• Spencer’s claim that Iman was emotionally abusive toward Zulekha — his allegation in his autobiography; not independently verified
• Whether Zulekha had primary residence with Spencer after divorce custody arrangement — stated in one source; not confirmed

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FAQ — 12 Real Questions

1. Who is Zulekha Haywood? 

She is the daughter of supermodel Iman and former NBA player Spencer Haywood, born July 5, 1978. She built a career in business analysis and supply chain strategy across multiple companies including Iman Cosmetics, Jay Manuel Beauty, Taymark Inc., and McShares Inc. She is known publicly for a Glamour essay about her weight loss journey and for being the stepdaughter of David Bowie, who was married to her mother from 1992 until his death in 2016.

2. Who are her parents? 

Her mother is Iman — born Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid, a Somali-American supermodel and founder of Iman Cosmetics. Her father is Spencer Haywood — a former NBA forward and Olympic gold medalist, best known for the “Haywood Rule” that changed NBA draft eligibility. They married in 1977 and divorced in 1987.

3. Who was David Bowie to her? 

Her stepfather. Iman married David Bowie on April 24, 1992, when Zulekha was thirteen. She had twenty-four years of family life with him before his death on January 10, 2016. She has not spoken publicly about their relationship.

4. What was her weight struggle? 

She began dieting at age eight. Her mother introduced the “Basta” diet — whispering the Italian word for “enough” when she overate. Her father’s approach was “Eat Like a Pig, Run Like a Horse.” Neither produced lasting results. By her mid-twenties she weighed approximately 330 pounds and had developed physical complications including heel spurs and swollen knees.

5. What surgery did she have?

 Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery at age 28 — approximately 2006. This is a more significant procedure than a gastric band, which some articles incorrectly state. The surgery had complications requiring ICU admission and a second surgery. She recovered and lost approximately 165 pounds over eighteen months.

6. What did she write about the experience? 

She wrote an essay for Glamour magazine. The most quoted line: “I’m proud of the fact that at 330 pounds, I didn’t hide from life, and I didn’t let my weight define me. At 165 pounds, I won’t do that either.” The essay is the most significant primary source in her public record.

7. What is her career? 

Business analyst and supply chain professional. She began at Iman Cosmetics (accountant to revenue and demand planning manager), then worked at Jay Manuel Beauty (senior business analyst and brand manager), Portu Sunberg (inventory analyst), Taymark Inc. (buyer and strategic sourcing analyst), and most recently McShares Inc. per her LinkedIn profile.

8. Does she have children? 

Yes. A daughter named Lavinia Rose Young, born in 2017. Spencer Haywood confirmed her existence in an Instagram post in 2018. The details of Lavinia’s father are disputed in the public record — see the personal life discrepancy section.

9. What is the personal life discrepancy? 

Some sources state she married Jason Young in 2016 and Lavinia is their daughter. One source describes her as a single mother who gave birth to Lavinia in 2017 and mentions a previous boyfriend named Eric. The two accounts conflict and cannot be reconciled from the available public record. The existence of Lavinia is confirmed. The father’s identity and Zulekha’s current relationship status are not definitively confirmed.

10. How does she relate to her siblings? 

She has five half-siblings. Three from her father’s second marriage to Linda Haywood (Courtney Nikkiah, Shaakira, and Isis Chanel). One half-sister from Iman and David Bowie — Alexandria Zahra Jones, born 2000. One step-brother — Duncan Jones, David Bowie’s son from his first marriage and a film director (Moon, Source Code).

11. What did Spencer Haywood say about Iman and Zulekha? 

In his autobiography, Spencer Haywood claimed that Iman had been emotionally abusive toward Zulekha and had damaged his own life. These are his allegations from his perspective. They are not independently verified accounts. They are documented as part of the family’s public record but should be read as one party’s account of disputed events.

12. Why did she choose business over modeling? 

She has never given a direct answer to this question in any documented interview. The inference is evident — she was overweight from childhood, grew up feeling inadequate against the physical standards of a supermodel mother and athlete father, and found professional identity in business rather than appearance-based work. Her Glamour essay suggests she arrived at genuine self-acceptance independent of the scale. Whether the choice of business over modeling was a reaction to family pressure or simply her own inclination is not something she has publicly explained.