Nearly 11 years after David Bowie’s death, his widow, Iman, is opening up about a part of grief that often goes unseen — putting her own heartbreak aside to help their teenage daughter cope with losing her father.

Bowie died from liver cancer on Jan. 10, 2016, at age 69. While millions of fans around the world mourned the legendary musician, Iman and their daughter, Alexandria “Lexi” Zahra Jones, were grieving a husband and father.

Lexi was just 15 when Bowie died, and Iman recently revealed that caring for her daughter became her immediate focus.

“At the beginning, I had a teenager — my daughter,” Iman told People. “I was so busy trying to get her through that, so I didn’t pay attention to my own grief. So actually, my grief came later.”

Over time, Iman said she has learned to remember Bowie in a way that brings joy instead of only sadness.

“You come to a point [where] you don’t want every time you think about somebody you love who passed away, that it brings you [to] tears,” she explained. “Because that’s what they [wouldn’t] want. So, it’s trying to keep the memory alive that is joyful, you know?”

Iman and Bowie’s love story began after they met on a blind date in Los Angeles in 1990. They married two years later in Florence, Italy, and welcomed Lexi in August 2000.

Looking back on their meeting, Iman has described it as something that seemed destined to happen.

“My destiny was calling me to get there so I could meet David,” she told People in 2021.

Bowie apparently knew much sooner that he had found the woman he wanted to marry.

“David said it was love at first sight,” Iman recalled. “It took me a few months, but I got there.”

For Iman, it wasn’t Bowie’s fame that made her fall in love with him. She knew the man behind the rock star persona and was particularly drawn to his kindness. She once recalled walking with Bowie when her shoelace came undone and he immediately knelt to tie it.

“I thought he’s the one,” she said.

Iman has never remarried and continues to honor her late husband publicly. On an anniversary this year, she shared throwback photos of the couple along with a moving message: “And I’d still choose you again and again and again for eternity.”

She also got a tattoo honoring Bowie and marked his birthday in January with another heartfelt tribute.

“Happy Heavenly Birthday,” Iman wrote. “Your light burns so bright in all our hearts! We love and miss you.”

Lexi has also kept her father’s memory alive. On what would have been Bowie’s 79th birthday, she shared a childhood photo with him and wrote, “Happy birthday pops, miss ya!”

For Iman, nearly 11 years without Bowie have not erased the grief. Instead, she has found a way to carry it differently — remembering the husband and father her family loved while holding on to the joy of the life they shared.