Lenny Kravitz Reveals Being Broke and In Love With Tisha Campbell Martin, Says They Had Ration Food To Survive While Living With Her Family Before The Fame

Lenny Kravitz has been given the sex symbol title since early on in his career, with many suitors pining after the rock star.  Most famously Kravitz dated and ultimately married actress Lisa Bonet, with their romantic relationship standing from 1985 until an amicable divorce in 1993.  The pair have managed to maintain a healthy friendship although both have moved on, the residue of their history remains.

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Kravitz’s career has proven to be extremely successful, becoming one of the highest-selling rock artists of his time with album sales amassing over 40 million copies, not including single sales.  Recently the Grammy Award-winning “Fly Away” singer released a memoir titled “Let Love Rule”, inviting fans and readers inside the first 25 years of his life, pre-fame.  

“I figured there were enough books on rock stardom and fame,” the artist told USA TODAY in an interview. “I realized this was a book about finding my voice. I needed to take the time to go through my experiences as a child: all the love I got, and all the artists I saw growing up in New York City in the ’70s and then moving to Los Angeles. All those people and experiences were notes of the music that I would eventually make.” 

While the book isn’t necessarily considered a “juicy tell-all”, readers do get a piece of information within his life that wasn’t known to the public.  Kravitz revealed that prior to meeting his then future wife Bonet backstage at a New Edition, he was in a relationship with actress Tisha Campbell!

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Campbell was famously married to Duane Martin for 22 years before ending in divorce in 2018.  During the summer, the My Wife and Kids actress participated in an episode of the OWN series Girlfriends Check-In, a virtual chat room with various female celebrities that share stories and play games.  Campbell’s episode featured her alongside AJ Johnson, Holly Robinson Peete, and Kym Whitley, and in a game of “Bet You Didn’t Know”, she reveals that her first romantic experience was with a “rock star”, all the while not dropping the artist’s name.  

“I don’t tell people this because people get too excited and like, ‘Oooh, ahhhh,’ as if I didn’t have street cred prior,” Campbell began.  “I was doing a reading of a play,” she begins. “He came in and auditioned; they were like we love your look, come audition.”  She then went on to say that she and the “mystery man” dated for three years.  

Social media were quick to put on their detective hats in attempts to find out who Tisha was referring to, while many guessed it to be Kravitz. “I ain’t tellin y’all who was my first!” she tweeted, bringing on a flurry of responses.  “Me and my friend did a Gloria Sheppard and Michelle Dulcett kinda work on this to find proofs and everything, comparing all we had and found and knew about it, so please @TishaCampbell tell us it’s Lenny Kravitz,” writes one user. “Make us feel [like] detectives.”

me and my friend did a Gloria Sheppard and Michelle Dulcett kinda work on this to find proofs and everything, comparing all we had and found and knew about it, so please @TishaCampbell tell us it’s Lenny Kravitz, make us feel detectives thanks we love you #GirlfriendsCheckIn

— Chiara (@itschiaraaa) June 21, 2020

While the actress never came forward to confirm the correct guesses, Kravitz revealed it to be true in his memoir.  Campbell has even been credited as his background singer on earlier songs of his like his second single from his debut album (also named Let Love Rule) entitled “I Build This Garden For Us”.  

In his book, he details their romance including how they met, with his account aligning with Campbell’s story.  The two met while auditioning for the play The Me Nobody Knows, and soon became captivated by her hazel eyes, singing voice, and “sweet personality”.   After a bout of flirting, he says they soon found themselves kissing at a cast member’s party.  

He then dives deeper into their romance, telling stories of living with her “fun” family in East Orange, NJ.  With a lot of people living in the same household, Kravitz was limited to sleeping on the floor, and sharing food rations of boxed macaroni and cheese, specifically seasoned with packets of Lipton Onion Soup, saying they “Lived On Lipton and love.”  

Unfortunately due to Tisha’s career beginning to blossom, being cast in the film version of Little Shop Of Horrors, and the lead role in School Daze.  Scheduling wouldn’t permit much time for them to nurture their relationship, causing them to break up.  

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Since Kravitz and Bonet’s marriage ended in divorce, he’s been in various relationships, including a brief stint with Nicole Kidman.  Bonet met actor Jason Momoa in 2005 and the two have since married and share two children.