Showbiz
How Jewish is Zoe Kravitz? ‘Catwoman’ star reportedly dating ‘honorary Jew’ Harry Styles
Both her parents, Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, are half-Jewish
June 30, 2023 14:57
Both her parents, Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, are half-Jewish
June 30, 2023 14:57A-List actress Zoe Kravitz has been pictured arm in arm with pop icon and philosemite Harry Styles, prompting speculation the pair are dating.
The Catwoman star, 36, is the daughter of Cosby Show actress Lisa Bonet and rock musician Lenny Kravitz, both of whom are half-Jewish – and now she has been spotted with Styles, yentas everywhere will no doubt be wondering – how “Jewish” is she?
Her rocker father Lenny is the son of Jewish NBC television news producer Sy Kravitz and African American actress Roxie Roker. He was named after his uncle Leonard M Kravitz who was killed in action in the Korean War.
Although Lenny started attending church as a teenager and later became a non-denominational Christian, he also grew up proud of his Jewish heritage and would attend synagogue and family dinners on the High Holy Days.
“My family went to church, we went to temple [synagogue] we celebrated both [Christmas and Chanukah] and ate cuisine from both sides,” he wrote in his memoir Let Love Rule.
“Life was full of colour and different traditions and it was never discussed.”
He has also described himself as “deeply two-sided” explaining he is: “Black and white. Jewish and Christian. Manhattanite and Brooklynite.”
Bonet, meanwhile, also has a Jewish parent and an African American one; her mother, Arlene Joyce Litman, was a Jewish schoolteacher while her father Allen Bonet was an African American opera singer.
The younger Kravitz was brought up keenly aware of the history of being both black and Jewish telling Elle magazine in 2018: “Jews and African Americans have had so much pain, carried so much on their shoulders, and come so far.”
She describes herself as a secular Jew and is also deeply invested in her black heritage.
Speaking to US magazine Allure, she has said: “I am mixed, my parents are mixed. The more I experience life, I am identifying more and more with being black and what that means – being more proud of that and feeling connected to my history. And now I’m so in love with my culture and so proud to be black. It’s still ongoing but a big shift has occurred.”
What’s more, the actress has indicated in the past that she is a fan of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David. In a separate interview with Elle, she stopped mid-conversation having momentarily believed she spotted the Jewish comedian, saying: "Is that Larry David?...That looks like Larry David, but it's not Larry David. Do you see what I'm talking about? I would die if that was him. I'm obsessed."
Her rumoured beau, Styles, does not have Jewish heritage but he has long been beloved by the community thanks to his penchant for sporting a Magen David and his frequent references online to Jewish culture.
The musician, who was catapulted to fame as part of One Direction, even knows some Yiddish.
Notably, he spent 20 months – at the height of his fame – living with Jewish producer Ben Winston and his observant Orthodox Jewish family when a house sale in Hampstead Heath fell through.
A 2017 Rolling Stone profile of the star described how: “The Winstons’ Orthodox Jewish lifestyle, with a strong family emphasis, helped keep [Styles] sane.”
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