Lenny Kravitz, 60, has homes in France, the Bahamas, and Rio de Janeiro and is currently living his best life in Paris. He resides in a 100-year-old townhome that used to serve as the former US embassy in Paris. When he’s not performing sold out concerts and FaceTiming with Denzel Washington from the stage, he’s eating super clean and healthy and working out a lot. Lenny recently sat down with The London Times’ Polly Vernon. They did a fun, lengthy interview in which they talked about how bad ass and hott-with-two-Ts Lenny is (paraphrasing, of course). Basically, Lenny is sexy and he knows it. He’s never felt better in his life, but he works really hard at it, which includes hitting the gym at 2:30 a.m. if he has to.
He has good taste: Kravitz himself is also spectacular: 5ft 9in of elegantly ripped beauty, jet-black dreadlocks, a nose ring. Perpetually exquisitely well dressed (black trousers and a black poloneck today, both of which fit so well, they can’t not be designer). Is anything about him bad taste, I’ll ask. “I have good taste — according to me,” he’ll reply. A voice so bassy, low and loud you’re left in no doubt how he’s worked a crowd over the course of the 35 years since his 1989 album Let Love Rule projected him to a stardom he’d never planned on (“I’d thought I was going to be this jazz musician, playing in a club”) but entirely enjoyed (“Oh, it was a trip”).
His 4th grade teacher was at his 60th birthday party: He is 60. Naomi Campbell, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Laurence Fishburne, Kravitz’s ex-wife, Lisa Bonet, and their daughter, Zoë Kravitz, all came to his party in May last year. “So did my fourth-grade teacher. I love this woman. Her name is Joan Goldberg. She flew all the way from New York to Paris,” Kravitz says.
He’s getting better with age: “I have to say it’s true. That’s not ego, that’s: I’ve never felt physically better in my life. But that’s by virtue of a tremendous amount of work.”
Never miss a Monday, even if it’s at 2:30am: “The other night I was in the gym at 2.30 in the morning. I was working all day. My trainer [Dodd Romero], he’s like, ‘Man, you are crazy. People don’t understand. They see the result, but they don’t understand that you’re in the gym at 2.30 in the morning doing this workout.’ So yes, when I look at pictures from now and pictures when I was even in my twenties, there’s no comparison, which is very odd.”
He shares his trainer with his bestie Denzel: I work with my trainer via FaceTime because he’s out doing other things. He’s with Denzel [Washington] right now, preparing for a play. I put them together, years ago. Wait until you see how wonderful Denzel is looking, how healthy he is.
On those pictures of him lifting weights in leather pants and a sheer tank: “Ha! That was hysterical. That kind of event happens because [Romero’s] very busy. I’m very busy. Sometimes the phone will ring, ‘Hey, brother, are you available now?’ And whatever I’m in is what I will come in. Now, I wouldn’t do cardio dressed like that. You’re gonna sweat profusely, correct? “But lifting weights? You might sweat a little. The next day, the guy who ran the gym said, ‘The outfits started to change. People started coming in wearing, you know, whatever.’ Like, ‘Oh, we can do that?’” Kravitz beams. He seems delighted with that legacy.
On being single for the last decade: “I’m good on my own. There’s nothing like a relationship with… You know. But right now, I’m good where I am.”
He loves Emily in Paris: [B]ecause we’re in Paris, because he is an American in Paris and has been for some decades, I ask him if he’s aware of Emily in Paris, the extremely popular Netflix show about a young American PR woman living in, well, Paris. “I’ve seen the whole thing,” Kravitz says. “I love a bit of camp every now and again. I know the creator [Darren Star], who I met after I’d watched it. We were at a dinner in LA at a friend’s house. She said, ‘He does Emily in Paris.’ I was like ‘You do?’ ” No way, I say. Lenny Kravitz looks at me, amused. “Why are you surprised? Why did you even ask the question?” Honestly? I didn’t think you’d even know what I was talking about. I thought you’d be too cool. “Oh, sometimes you’ve got to watch some telly, man. Sometimes you’ve got to watch a bit of telly.”
LMAO at that exchange about him loving Emily in Paris. I don’t know why, but I’m always tickled whenever I read about famous people’s more guilty pleasure watches. It humanizes them for me for some reason. I also freaking love that one of his elementary school teacher flew all the way out to Paris from New York to celebrate his 60th. That woman has to be in her mid 80s by now, but clearly, she had a huge impact on Lenny if they’re still in touch more than 50 years later.
I’m totally burying the lede here and that’s, of course, how freaking incredible Lenny looks at 60! I also love how he’s equally super self-assured and very normal at the same time. It’s kinda bad-ass that he’s so dedicated to his fitness that he’s willing to meet with his trainer at 2:30 a.m. I love the endorphins you get from working out, but the middle of the night is where I draw my line, lol. Lenny can afford to hire another trainer, too, so it also speaks to his loyalty that he’s willing to meet with Romero on his schedule rather than forcing his trainer to conform to his. But, he looks f-cking fantastic, so he’s clearly doing something right.
And yes, I am going to enhance your day by making you look at some more pictures of Lenny looking smoking’ hot. And, because I’m super nice, here’s the video of him lifting weights in a leather-and-sheer outfit. You’re welcome!
Photos via Instagram and credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, IMAGO/RW/Avalon, Smart Pictures/Avalon and Backgrid