Let Love Rule - Lenny Kravitz Page 0,70

independent spirit, Lisa was undeterred. She couldn’t have cared less about appearing on film nude. And she wasn’t about to be intimidated by Cosby. She shot the film; controversy followed. Later that year, she took me on a Disney-sponsored trip with her to Orlando, just to keep her company. We stayed in separate rooms.

Despite Lisa’s insistence on doing Angel Heart, Cosby and NBC forged ahead with A Different World, where Denise leaves the Huxtable home in Manhattan to attend Hillman, a fictional Black college. Marisa Tomei and Jasmine Guy were Lisa’s costars. The first season was a hit and won the People’s Choice Award as Best New Comedy.

Lisa asked me to come visit her on set at Universal Studios. As I drove through the lot and arrived at the location, it was déjà vu. A Different World was being shot on the exact same soundstage where I’d grown up. This was where The Jeffersons had been taped. It felt like home.

Upon seeing me, Lisa ran and jumped right into my arms. I really was home. I immediately noticed she had gotten her nose pierced. She looked like an Indian goddess.

After the shoot, I drove over to the Gauntlet, a body piercing studio on Santa Monica Boulevard, where Jim Ward, a pioneer of the movement, pierced my nose.

On the music front, I was having problems. The demos I’d cut with Raf and Danny were generating interest from major labels, which meant I should have been thrilled. Except I wasn’t. I was hesitant. Something again said “Wait.” But what was that something? The guys didn’t understand what I was waiting for. I wasn’t even sure myself. It was just that same gnawing feeling in my gut.

These songs weren’t what I was supposed to be doing. I hung around, but the more I distanced myself from the band, the more pissed off my bandmates became. Conversely, the more time I spent with Lisa, the more I was changing emotionally. New feelings were forming in my heart. Those feelings were slowly turning into songs, but songs with a vibe that had nothing to do with the band. These were songs that reflected my inner soul.

Things sped up. Four or five times a week, I was running from the downtown loft to visit Lisa at her gingerbread house in Venice. She read me poetry. I played my guitar. We listened to records and watched films. She told me stories of her childhood—the way her mom had loved and supported her, the way her dad had abandoned her. Like me, she had half siblings, but, also like me, she was raised as an only child. She was seeking her other half. So was I.

While a storm of heavy emotions swirled around me, Lisa’s home became my safe harbor. We saw eye to eye on absolutely everything. In seeing her, I was able to see myself. Her company gave me reassurance, and she believed in instincts as much as I did. I wanted to be around her all the time.

Mitzi saw my obsession with Lisa. How could she not? She knew that my feelings for Lisa went beyond friendship. She knew that there wasn’t room in my life for both her and Lisa. She confronted me, and I told her the truth. Lisa and I were not lovers, but, yes, I couldn’t stay away from her. Even if it was just friendship, it was a friendship that had consumed my heart.

Mitzi and I broke off our engagement. I knew I had hurt her, and I also knew I had no excuse. The fault was mine. Love had pulled me away. I was sorry, but I also wasn’t about to give up Lisa.

“If you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”

A DIFFERENT WORLD

It was the name of Lisa’s show, but also a perfect description of what my life was becoming.

Because I had no car, Lisa let me drive her to Burbank every morning in her sixties Mustang and borrow it all day while she was on set. I’d hit a studio session in Hollywood or go rehearse somewhere until it was time to pick her up and drive her back to the beach. My crosstown commute took hours. So, to make things easier, she offered me a room in her house, where I put my instruments. I moved in. Yet we still hadn’t violated the terms of our friendship.

We talked from morning to night, about everything under the sun. And it just felt so