Lisa Bonet: 21 Facts About The Cosby Show Star
Lisa Bonet has been a fixture in the pop-culture landscape since the 1980s. She was just a teenager when, in 1984, she was cast as Denise Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," second-oldest of the five children being raised by Cliff and Claire Huxtable (Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad) in what quickly became the most popular show on television.
She became an instant celebrity, and her fame hasn't subsided during the decades that passed. Over the years, Bonet has had something of a love-hate relationship with show business, retreating from Hollywood and eventually returning — which has only made fans more curious about her. This has been particularly true when it comes to the two major relationships in her life, with rock star Lenny Kravitz and with actor Jason Momoa.
In fact, her breakup with Momoa in early 2022 generated headlines around the world, something that has often been the case — and ironically so — for someone who has never seemed to seek out the spotlight. Yet, while Bonet has often been viewed as enigmatic and somewhat mysterious, she's also been surprisingly candid about herself. To find out more, read on for an in-depth look at Lisa Bonet and these 21 facts about "The Cosby Show" star.
Her mixed-race heritage wasn't easy for her as a child
Lisa Bonet was born in 1967, to a white, Jewish mother and a Black father. Her parents split up not long after her birth, and her dad — an opera singer — wasn't a big part of her life growing up. Back in the late 1960s and early '70s, mixed-race children had a uniquely tough experience — a fact that Bonet learned once she began attending an upscale public school in Los Angeles. "The world wasn't ready for what I represented, the merging of these two races," Bonet explained in an interview with Net-a-Porter. "I didn't always feel welcome — in my mom's family, in my school."
Throughout her childhood, Bonet felt alone. As she quickly discovered, she didn't fit in with either the Black or white communities, and she didn't feel accepted by either. "I was stuck in the middle," Bonet recalled of her experiences growing up in a 1987 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "The Black kids called me an Oreo. The white kids didn't talk to me. When I went to temple, I was miserable."
Lisa Bonet landed her breakthrough acting role because of her braces
Lisa Bonet was just a kid when she began gravitating toward acting. Doors opened for her when she began to pursue it professionally; in fact, she was just 16 when she landed her first television role, in a 1983 episode of the medical drama "St. Elsewhere." It wasn't long after that she auditioned for "The Cosby Show," a new family sitcom starring comedian Bill Cosby. "I just remember she had braces and her hair was done in real kid fashion," Marcy Carsey, one of the series' producers, recalled when speaking with The Washington Post. "She looked like she had just come straight from class, like she wore exactly what she had worn to school that day ... And she read as if she were just doing life."
In fact, while waiting with other young actors at the audition, Bonet remembered one of the other girls up for the role of Denise Huxtable declaring that she'd never get the part — "Because she has braces," the girl announced to everyone. "My braces hadn't even crossed my mind," Bonet admitted. "And when she said that I was like, I mean, I should just go home now."
However, Bonet continued to excel at every stage during the audition process, until it was finally time to introduce her to Cosby to gain his seal of approval. "I just remember Bill looking at me and saying, 'I love your braces,'" Bonet recalled.
Lisa Bonet didn't expect her career would last more than a decade
Not only was "The Cosby Show" a TV hit, but it also became a groundbreaking cultural phenomenon that ruled television while setting a new standard for the way Black families were depicted on television. One would think being part of such a massively successful show would give any young actor the sense that a long and fruitful acting career lay ahead. Lisa Bonet, however, envisioned her future differently. "I don't plan to work in this business more than 10 years," she told The Washington Post in 1987. "I have every intention of finding a castle in Spain, buying a ranch in Montana and then just disappearing."
Fast forward to the 2020s, and it's clear that Bonet's career lasted considerably longer than her teenage self had anticipated. Throughout it all, the only drumbeat to which she's ever danced has been her own. "I didn't become an actor to make a point," she told Interview, declaring that her artistry as an actor transcends all else, race included. "I became an actor to create, and I am an actor before I'm Black," she said.
During a 2018 interview with Net-a-Porter, Bonet was asked to chime in about why she hadn't become a bigger star. "I don't know!" she responded. "I always had one foot in and one foot out of the business, so that's part of it. But also, it's slim pickings out there! There aren't endless opportunities for women of color."
The reason Lisa Bonet hasn't changed her distinctive hairstyle
For years, Lisa Bonet has worn her hair in a very distinctive way, a style that's remained consistent over the course of multiple decades. "I've had my hair in dreadlocks for a really long time. It's probably been 20-something years now," Bonet told The New York Times in a 2016 interview. "I went for it because I couldn't stand the hours of tending and unraveling my hair." According to Bonet, her hair has always had a tendency to become knotted, and she's not a fan of spending her time sitting in a salon to try to treat or style that. "It seemed the natural solution," she explained.
She's also come to understand how little knowledge those without dreads can tend to have about her hair. "It's hilarious when people who don't know about dreads wonder, Do you wash your hair? The answer is 'Of course,'" she said.
Her secret ingredient to keeping her hair healthy, she added, was coconut oil, which she also applies to her skin. "It's simple and pure," she said, detailing why she preferred natural solutions for both her hair and body. "Why put a lotion on your body that has 10 ingredients when you can put on one that is from nature and smells divine and does the job?" she mused.
Her first major film role stirred up lots of controversy
Lisa Bonet was known to millions of TV viewers around the world as Denise Huxtable, a wholesome teenager who became something of a role model to millions of young women. That particular aspect of her role on "The Cosby Show" came to be challenged when Bonet was cast in the erotic thriller "Angel Heart," opposite Mickey Rourke. As it turned out, one scene in the movie was so sexual that the Motion Picture Association of America, which determines film ratings, slapped an X rating on "Angel Heart." Suddenly, headlines about Bonet's role in the film shifted from the fact that she was making her film debut to the insinuation that she'd jumped from "The Cosby Show" to hardcore porn. Bonet scoffed at that characterization in an interview with the Los Angeles Times ahead of the film's release. "I think the whole scandal is ridiculous," she said. "They [the news media] are trying to steam it up."
Speaking with The Washington Post during that same time frame, Bonet insisted the whole thing had become wildly overblown. "Well, actually, it's so funny that all this controversy is made over this 30-second scene that has now had 10 seconds cut," she said. "You know, people are going to go see it and they're going to go, 'What is the big deal here?'"
That controversial scene was ultimately edited enough that the MPAA revised the rating from X to R.
She starred in her own Cosby Show spinoff — but not for long
A few months after the "Angel Heart" controversy, Lisa Bonet exited "The Cosby Show," as Denise Huxtable left to become a freshman at fictional Hillman College in her own spinoff, "A Different World." TV critics at the time were unimpressed, but the show was a ratings juggernaut due to its time slot, sandwiched between "The Cosby Show" and the hit sitcom "Cheers."
Bonet wound up leaving the show after the first season when she became pregnant, resulting in the somewhat bizarre scenario of an actor quitting a hit show that had been created specifically for her. While reports at the time indicated that the decision to exit was Bonet's, Lenny Kravitz — her husband at the time — disputed that scenario in his 2020 memoir, "Let Love Rule." According to Kravitz (via Page Six), producer Debbie Allen allegedly pitched Bill Cosby a storyline in which Denise has her baby and raises it as a single mom while continuing college. Cosby balked. "Lisa Bonet is pregnant, but Denise Huxtable is not," he said, as recounted by Kravitz.
Meanwhile, Daryl L. Bell, who co-starred with Bonet on "A Different World," shot down rumors that she was axed because of problematic behavior. "Lisa doesn't get enough credit for 'A Different World,'" he said in an oral history of the show for Vanity Fair, contextualizing the pressure Bonet was under at the time. "Anyone who has suggested that Lisa was unprofessional or difficult to work with, it's just not true."
She returned to The Cosby Show but was fired over 'creative differences'
Lisa Bonet's pregnancy had been preceded by her marriage to rocker Lenny Kravitz, whom she wed in November of 1987 on the day of her 20th birthday. After the birth of their daughter, Zoë, Bonet was invited to return to "The Cosby Show." When she came back, her character was now married to a Navy lieutenant, and stepmother to her new husband's daughter. As it turned out, the tension between Cliff Huxtable and his daughter that viewers witnessed onscreen was similarly playing out behind the scenes. As Kravitz detailed in his memoir, Bonet's rapport with Bill Cosby had been eroded by her pregnancy, which only worsened when she was back on the set. "But from then on, her relationship with Bill was tense and ultimately untenable," Kravitz wrote, as excerpted by Page Six.
Bonet was eventually fired from "The Cosby Show" in 1991; at the time, her departure from the series was said to have resulted from "creative differences." As People reported, those differences were apparently so extreme that when the series prepared to wrap up its eight-season run in 1992, Bonet was not asked back to appear in the final episode.
Her TV brother, Malcolm Jamal Warner, insisted that he, at least, held no grudges. "I admire the way she followed her own drummer," he told the magazine.
Her marriage to rocker Lenny Kravitz didn't last
When Lisa Bonet married Lenny Kravitz, he was unknown and working on his debut album, "Let Love Rule." While that record would eventually put him on the map, when he spoke with the Los Angeles Times in 1989, he was still at the stage where people referred to him as "Mr. Bonet." "I know why it happens," he said pragmatically. "She's famous and I'm not — yet."
That prediction came to pass by the time Bonet filed for divorce in 1993, citing the always popular "irreconcilable differences." While Bonet said little about the split, Kravitz has admitted that he was devastated by the divorce. "I was in a tremendous amount of pain when we broke up, tremendous," he told Rolling Stone in 1995. "For, like, six months, I only slept for two hours a day, from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. The rest of the time I was just up, like a zombie. I was floored."
Interviewed by Flatt more than a decade later, Kravitz reflected on what had gone wrong in their marriage. "I think I just wasn't ready. I had to take a break," he said, as reported by Glamour U.K., implying the two had tied the knot at too young an age. He also indicated that the life of a touring musician isn't exactly conducive to maintaining a solid relationship. "The hard part is that I'm always moving. It's the lifestyle," he said.
She legally changed her name
After initiating divorce proceedings to end her marriage to Lenny Kravitz, her marital status wasn't the only thing that Lisa Bonet decided to change. Later that same year, she embarked on another legal endeavor — this time, to change her name. As the Orlando Sentinel reported, her legal moniker was no longer Lisa Bonet — she was now Lilakoi Moon. She made the adjustment, the outlet noted, in order to better preserve her privacy. Several years later, she told People that she decided on the new name "to honor my personal life outside of this," referring to her acting career and the fame that's accompanied it.
Privacy, in fact, has been of primary importance to Bonet since the early 1990s, when paparazzi relentlessly hounded her during her pregnancy. "People were falling off roofs trying to get pictures," Bonet told Net-a-Porter. Becoming a celebrity was never something she'd chased, and once she attained fame, she was intensely uncomfortable with it. "I'm a shy person," she told People. "I don't know if it's in my DNA to share with the world."
Bonet's daughter, Zoë Kravitz, confirmed that in an interview with ASOS, as reported by Hello Beautiful. "She walked away from being famous, because she didn't really care about it," she said of her mother. "She is the most true artist I have met. She doesn't change for anybody."
She restarted her career after taking a few years off
After her ignominious exit from "The Cosby Show" and divorce from Lenny Kravitz, Lisa Bonet appeared in a few projects, and then quietly stepped away from Hollywood. A glance at her IMDb profile, in fact, shows a four-year gap between her 1994 TV movie "A New Eden" and her next screen credit, starring opposite Will Smith in the 1998 thriller "Enemy of the State."
"I haven't been working at all. I've just had a different way of living for a while — living in L.A., taking care of my kid, finding what interests me, doing some thinking, and lots of yoga," she said of that period while promoting the movie in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. As she explained, taking such a lengthy hiatus wasn't something she'd deliberately planned, but had simply turned out that way. "Well, I can't say that it was a conscious decision that happened at once. Time just ... went," she said. "Then ['Enemy of the State'] basically fell into my lap. And when it's that effortless you have to just go with it."
It would be two years before her next movie, "High Fidelity, which came out in 2000. More than 20 years later, in one of those odd twists of Hollywood fate, Bonet's daughter, Zoë Kravitz, would star in a "High Fidelity" TV series. "It feels really cool," Kravitz told Wonderwall of that unique mother-daughter experience.
Returning to television in the late 2000s was 'an intense decision'
In the years after "Enemy of the State," Lisa Bonet appeared in a few movies, and then made a full-fledged return to television when she was cast in the ABC crime drama "Life on Mars." In the 2008 series — based on a popular British show — Jason O'Mara starred as a modern-day NYPD police detective who's hit by a car and reawakens in 1973. Bonet played his girlfriend in his 2008 reality, a character who was also a NYPD detective and his partner. "Life on Mars" marked Bonet's first time acting in an ongoing role in a TV series since "The Cosby Show." Interviewed by People at the time, she admitted her return to television did not come without some serious apprehension. "To have my face reinstated in minds and homes once a week was an intense decision," she said.
As it turned out, Bonet's concerns about once again becoming a fixture on TV screens were rendered moot when the series was canceled after just one season.
For whatever reason, the series' cancellation sparked another extended hiatus from Hollywood; Bonet didn't appear onscreen again until 2013, when she guest-starred in Comedy Central's bonkers "Drunk History," in which comedians get plastered and recount their best recollections of historical events. Appearing in two episodes, Bonet played Rosa Parks and Mary Ellen Pleasant.
Lisa Bonet was the 'childhood crush' of her future husband
Lisa Bonet began dating actor Jason Momoa in 2005, but their romance actually extends back quite a bit longer than that — at least from Momoa's perspective. "Ever since I was, like, eight years old, and I saw her on the TV, I was like, "I was like, 'Mommy, I want that one,'" Momoa said during a 2017 appearance on "The Late Late Show with James Corden." He confirmed that in a 2019 interview with Esquire, revealing that he first laid eyes on her while watching "The Cosby Show," and that she was "literally my childhood crush." He also clarified that, when the two first met, he chose not to share that particular tidbit of information with her. "I mean, I didn't tell her that," he said. "I didn't let her know I was a stalker until after we had the kids."
Their chance meeting wound up changing both of their lives. "I can't say it was full-on from the moment we saw each other, but we have been together from the day that we met," she told Net-a-Porter.
The couple went on to have two children together, daughter Lola Iolani Momoa, born in 2007, and son Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa, who arrived in 2008.
She and partner Jason Momoa acted together in a TV series and a movie
In 2014, Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa took their relationship to the next level — not by getting married (at least not yet), but by appearing together onscreen. The two acted together in not one but two different projects: the 2014 feature "Road to Paloma," and the Sundance Channel TV series "The Red Road."
In the former project, Momoa was not only the star, he also served as director (in his feature debut) and co-writer of the screenplay. And as it happened, "Road to Paloma" paved the way for the couple to work together in the critically acclaimed "The Red Road." "Jason and I had done a film together, and when he was in the process of booking this show he sent the film to the producers," Bonet told Essence of how they came to work together a second time. "They really appreciated our chemistry, which was nice."
From an acting perspective, Bonet admitted that the trust that she and Momoa had built up during the course of their relationship was something they were easily able to transfer to the set. "It was a comfort," she told Variety. "I felt protected and I feel safe when I work with him."
Lisa Bonet and actor Jason Momoa were together for 16 years before they split
Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa were happily unmarried until 2017 when they tied the knot in a top-secret ceremony. The couple had hoped to keep the nuptials under wraps, but news emerged despite their attempts at privacy. "I thought it would have stayed that way, but some a**hole leaked it and I will find you," Momoa Entertainment Tonight of the wedding news getting out. Besides, from the couple's perspective, becoming legally wed didn't change anything about their relationship. "You know what, I've been married to my wife for 12 years," he said of the celebration. "It's just a gathering of our families and celebrating our love."
Less than five years later, it was all over. In January 2022, Momoa shared a since-deleted post on Instagram (as reported by the Los Angeles Times) announcing that they had split up. In their joint statement, Momoa and Bonet allude to various changes that had been taking place. "A revolution is unfolding, and our family is of no exception ... feeling and growing from the seismic shifts occurring," the statement declared. "And so, we share our family news that we are parting ways in marriage."
The statement concluded by insisting their public announcement wasn't meant to generate headlines (although it definitely did) and was simply so they could openly carry out their now-separate individual lives. "We free each other to be who we are learning to become," the message added.
There's been no bitterness between Lisa Bonet and her ex-husbands
While there is certainly no shortage of celebrity exes who have erased all traces of each other after scorched-earth splits, that is not how Lisa Bonet rolls. Despite her two divorces, she has remained on good terms with both of her ex-husbands. Her divorce from her first husband Lenny Kravitz, in fact, was so amicable that the "Are You Gonna Go My Way" rocker struck up a close friendship with her second ex, Jason Momoa.
That friendship didn't end after Momoa's split from Bonet. That was evident when Kravitz — two months after the divorce announcement — shared a photo of himself and Momoa on Instagram, each atop a motorcycle with wide grins on their faces. "Ride or die," wrote Kravitz in the caption. "Brothers for life."
Like Kravitz, Momoa is clearly on board with that same easygoing post-divorce vibe. Less than two months after publicly announcing their split, he attended the premiere of "The Batman" in support of Bonet's daughter with Kravitz, Zoë Kravitz, as she made her debut as Selena Kyle/Catwoman in the film. Accompanying Momoa on the red carpet were his two children with Bonet. "We're just so proud," Momoa told Entertainment Tonight. "Lisa couldn't be here, so we're representing, me and the babies. We're very excited to just be here ... It's still family, you know?"
She made another comeback the following decade
After "Drunk History," Bonet continued down the comedy path for her next role, a 2014 guest spot on the sitcom "New Girl." She then appeared with then-partner Jason Momoa on the drama series "The Red Road" (which aired in 2014 and 2015), and then guest-starred in two episodes of Lena Dunham's "Girls," in the role of Tandice, introduced for two episodes as a new love interest for Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). "My most memorable moment on set was meeting Lisa Bonet," Moss-Bachrach recalled to International Business Times. "Just because she means a lot to me."
Bonet followed that up with an intense recurring role on "Ray Donovan," playing Marisol, a deeply damaged woman trapped in an incestuous relationship with her brother. Speaking about her role with IndieWire, Bonet recalled learning that Marisol would not survive to the end of the season. "I got that infamous call right before you show up at the table read to learn that your time has come," she recalled. "I think I did have a pang in my heart because I wish I had a little more time to play in her damaged world."
Admitting that she typically didn't watch much television herself, she noted she was proud to be part of the show, even for that brief period. "I know that 'Ray Donovan' has a loyal following, and it was a real privilege to take the words of talented writers and bring them to life," she added.
Lisa Bonet's dream collab never happened
Throughout the course of her acting career, Lisa Bonet has worked with some top directors, including Alan Parker on "Angel Heart" (whose credits include "Fame," "Midnight Express," and "Mississippi Burning"), Tony Scott on "Enemy of the State" ("Top Gun," "Crimson Tide") and Stephen Frears on "High Fidelity" ("Dangerous Liaisons," "The Queen"). In fact, Bonet has occasionally stepped behind the camera herself; back in 1989, she directed the music video for then-husband Lenny Kravitz's single "Let Love Rule," which she followed up by helming the video for "It Never Rains (In Southern California)" for Tony! Toni! Toné! in 1990. She went on to direct the video for Milla Jovovich's "The Gentleman Who Fell" in 1993. In 2006, she directed a short documentary, "Walking in Compton."
Collaborating with those directors and musicians clearly engaged Bonet's creativity as an artist, yet there was one person she'd always dreamed of working with. "I'd like to work with David Bowie," she told Interview back in 1987. "He makes me melt. I find him so magnetic."
While Bonet never did get the opportunity to collaborate with the late rock icon, her ex-husband, Lenny Kravitz did, joining Bowie on his 1993 track "The Buddha of Suburbia."
She spoke out about allegations against Bill Cosby
Lisa Bonet's infamous clashes with Bill Cosby took on a different resonance in the mid-2010s when more than 60 different women accused the "Cosby Show" patriarch of drugging and then sexually assaulting them over a period spanning decades. At the time, Bonet remained silent — something that her daughter, Zoë Kravitz, addressed in a 2015 interview with The Guardian. "She'd plead the fifth, even to me," Kravitz said. "I think she's just staying out of it. She's just as disgusted and concerned as everyone else is, but I don't think she has any insight."
It wasn't until a few years later that Bonet finally opened up about the topic. "There was no knowledge on my part about his specific actions, but ... There was just energy," she told Net-a-Porter in 2018. "And that type of sinister, shadow energy cannot be concealed."
When queried whether she recognized a "darkness" surrounding her former TV dad, Bonet replied, "Always. And if I had anything more to reveal then it would have happened a long time ago." Ultimately, she implied that the retribution Cosby had been facing — which included serving three years of a 10-year prison sentence — had been a long time coming. "I don't need to say, 'I told you so,'" she added. "I just leave all that to karma and justice and what will be."
If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit RAINN.org for additional resources.
Lisa Bonet has never stopped searching for herself
Over the course of her decades-long acting career, Lisa Bonet has continually opened up about her ongoing spiritual journey. "I'm happiest when I meditate," she told Interview back in 1987, "because you can be anywhere in the world and be anyone and anything and it's totally unconditional ... " In that same interview, she also commented on her struggles to transcend her own ego. "The spiritual ego is the hardest of all to combat," she explained. "I sometimes find myself bathing in my ego."
Speaking with The Washington Post that same year, Bonet reiterated that the inner quest she was on superseded any career ambitions. "It's like, there is so much more in life than, you know, show business," she said. "You know, it's only going to last for so long, but, you know, the work that I'm doing, like with my guru and meditation, is forever."
More than three decades later, Bonet was on that same journey. That was evident when she was interviewed by Marisa Tomei in 2022, again for Interview. Asked by Tomei where her focus lay at that moment, Bonet offered a philosophical response. "Definitely learning how to be authentically me, learning to be new, and following this invitation from the universe to step into this river of uncertainty," she said. "We've eliminated all this extra noise, and now it's time to grow our roots deeper into our own values."
She has a pet donkey that she takes on walks
It's not uncommon for paparazzi to capture celebrities taking their dogs for a walk, with those photos often appearing in tabloids. In 2017, however, photos emerged of Lisa Bonet walking her pet — which wasn't a canine, but a donkey. As the Daily Mail reported, she wore a fringed jacket while keeping the donkey tethered with a rope.
More information about Bonet's donkey came to light in her 2022 interview with Net-a-Porter, revealing the collection of unusual pets she'd accumulated at her home in Topanga Canyon, about an hour away from downtown Los Angeles. That menagerie included a pair of dogs that she described as wolves. "That's Amba and Zion, my wolves. Well, half-wolf, half-Malamute," she said.
Also referenced in the feature was the donkey, named Freya. "Isn't she beautiful?" Bonet said of her beloved pet, telling the animal, "We'll go walking later, honey." True to her word, the interview ended in order to accommodate Freya. "It's time to walk my donkey!" she declared.
Lisa Bonet has ambitions beyond acting
Ever since becoming famous via "The Cosby Show," Lisa Bonet has always been, first and foremost, an actor. It's a vocation that she's been following since her teen years, and it is one that she's maintained over the years — albeit somewhat sporadically at times. She told Net-a-Porter in 2018 that she'd hit the point in her life where she'd come to a certain ambivalence about acting, experiencing the realization that it wasn't fulfilling all the artistic desires she was feeling.
"Acting is how I've forged my way, but I don't think it's my passion," Bonet divulged. As for what her next passion might be, she admitted that she hadn't quite zeroed in on it, but that notions were percolating. "Maybe directing," she mused. "I have ideas. There's a movie, a children's TV show, and a documentary short. I feel that I have the soul of an artist, but I don't know yet which medium." We can't wait to see where Bonet's path leads her.