Zoe kravitz mother and father

Zoë Kravitz knows a thing or two about growing up in the limelight, thanks to her famous parents, Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet.

The Big Little Liesactress is close with both Lenny and Lisa. She's called her look-alike mom "my pal," and her dad frequently posts proud platitudes about Zoë on social media.

Lenny told PEOPLE in 2020 that he and Zoë "have a very open dialogue," and their relationship reminds him of the tight bond he saw between his mother, late Jeffersons actress Roxie Roker, and his grandfather.

Despite her close relationship with Lenny, Zoë "thought about not using" her famous father's last name when she began her career as an actress but "it just didn't stick." Lenny wasn't a big fan of the idea either.

"I also think I mentioned it to my dad at one point and I think I could feel that it made him a little sad," she said in 2020 on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard. "So, yeah, I just kind of stuck with it. I did used to be really insecure about people just associating me with my family and now I love it — I'm so proud of them and it's cool."

Not only did she keep her last name professionally, but she also carries the life lessons Lenny passed down to her: "Love, respect, and hard work, honor and discipline, all the stuff I learned," he told PEOPLE in 2019.

"She's amazing, and she's all the things that I would have hoped for," he said. "I'm a dad, you know, but we're friends. We're very close. We talk about everything. We don't hide things from each other."

Here's everything to know about Zoë Kravitz's relationship with her parents, Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet.

Zoë is Lenny and Lisa's only child together

The musician and the actress met backstage at a New Edition concert in Los Angeles in 1985. They eloped in Las Vegas on Nov. 16, 1987, Lisa's 20th birthday,

Zoë Kravitz is looking back on her decision to move away from her mother Lisa Bonet to live with her father Lenny Kravitz when she was 11, and how she now thinks that was "hurtful" to her mom.

After her parents split when she was young, Zoë lived with her mom for the first 10 years of her life. But now, in a new cover story for Esquire, Zoë says that she now thinks differently about moving across the country to live her father, who she had only seen a few times a year prior.

"It was this whirlwind of a completely different universe," Zoë says of his visits. "And then I would go home to this really quiet, really simple life." Experiencing her father's rockstar life at the time made going home to her mother's stricter lifestyle ultimately made her decide to move to Miami to live with Lenny when she was 11.

Zoë Kravitz explains why directorial debut Blink Twice couldn't use original title Pussy Island (exclusive)

All of a sudden, Zoë found she could do anything she wanted. "It wasn’t that my dad didn’t care," she says. "He just cared about different things." So Zoë grew up fast, and the excitement of her newfound freedom wore off. "Just like it happens in the movies, it’s like, 'Oh, you think this is perfect? You think this is great? Guess what comes with this.'"

Now Zoë feels guilty about moving away from her mother. "I think it was very hurtful that I moved away from her to be with my dad and my dad wasn’t even there," she says. "I just wish I had been able to appreciate what she was doing for me. She was so focused on preserving my innocence. My creativity. Because she knew what the world is — that you don’t get that back."

Lenny was 24 years old when he and ex-wife Lisa, who was 21, welcomed Zoë in 1988. Zoë says that she was "quite awkward" as a

American actress (born 1988)

Zoë Kravitz (born December 1, 1988) is an American actress and filmmaker. She made her acting debut in the romantic comedy film No Reservations (2007). Her breakthrough came with portraying Angel Salvadore (Tempest) in the superhero film X-Men: First Class (2011), and she had further franchise roles in The Divergent Series (2014–2016) and the Fantastic Beasts film series (2016–2018).

Kravitz earned praise for her lead roles in the HBO drama series Big Little Lies (2017–2019) and the Hulu romantic comedy series High Fidelity (2020). She appeared in George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), and has starred in numerous independent films including Dope (2015), Gemini (2017), and Kimi (2022). She voiced Mary Jane in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), and played Catwoman in the animated The Lego Batman Movie (2017) and the live-action DC film The Batman (2022). Time named Kravitz one of the 100 Most Influential People in 2022. She expanded to filmmaking by co-writing and directing the thriller Blink Twice (2024).

Early life

Kravitz was born in Venice, Los Angeles at the home of her parents, musician Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet. Both her parents are of half African-American and half-Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Her paternal grandmother, actress Roxie Roker (a first cousin once removed of television weather forecaster Al Roker), and her maternal grandfather, Allen Bonet, were African American, with some of her grandmother's family being from The Bahamas. Her paternal grandfather, NBC television news producer Sy Kravitz, and maternal grandmother, Arlene Litman, were both Ashkenazi Jews. Kravitz's paternal grandfather's family emigrated from Russia. Kravitz identifies as a secular Jew. The song "Flowers for Zoë", included on her fa

Zoë Kravitz is looking back on her decision to live with dad Lenny Kravitz after his breakup with her mother Lisa Bonet.

The Blink Twice director and co-writer, 35, opened up about that period in her life in a wide-ranging interview for Esquire, alongside a photoshoot for the magazine's September 2024 issue.

“I think it was very hurtful that I moved away from her to be with my dad and my dad wasn’t even there,” Zoë said of Bonet, recalling the time she relocated to New York City from Miami and musician Lenny, now 60, left soon after to tour.

Zoë added of Bonet, now 56, “I just wish I had been able to appreciate what she was doing for me."

"She was so focused on preserving my innocence. My creativity. Because she knew what the world is — that you don’t get that back," the Batman actress added.

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All About Zoë Kravitz's Relationship with Parents Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet

One example? Bonet changing her own name to Lilakoi Moon when Zoë was 5 years old and enrolling her daughter in school as Zoë Moon, a decision the latter told Esquire was "very sweet."

While she was living with Bonet, she saw Lenny a few times a year, according to the magazine — and seeing him "was this whirlwind of a completely different universe,” Zoë said, referring to the time when his career was at a particularly high point.

"Then I would go home to this really quiet, really simple life," she said of the time before she relocated with Lenny to Miami when she was 11 and then, eventually, to New York City.

Of the different lifestyle she adopted once she moved to Florida, Zoë told Esquire, “It wasn’t that m