Iman’s Mother, Maryan Baadi, Dies Just Two Months After Husband David Bowie’s Death

Just two months after the death of her iconic husband, David Bowie, the supermodel, Iman, has lost her mother.

Iman previously told The Guardian about how proud she was of her parents, specifically of their work in the Somali independence movement.

“My mother was an activist, so was my father.” she said in 2014. “They came from a generation of young Somalis who were actively involved in getting independence for Somalia in 1960.”

She also credits her personal confidence to her mother.

“So I remember when I was five how busy our house was. People would come in the middle of the night, meetings after meetings, and protests and all that. I grew up in the midst of all that. And she instilled that in me. The fact that nobody can take your self-worth unless you give your consent,” she explained. “She always said to me that there is nothing that boys can do, because I had two brothers, that you can’t do, if not better.”

Iman has rarely been seen or heard from since her husband’s passing. Sightings of her in public have been scarce, like her walking the dog, dressed in all black. A source told E! that Iman has been keeping busy, spending time with her daughter and the rest of her family. She has taken to some sporadic use of social media to express her emotions, although she was silent for a whole month after her husband’s death. She marked her return to social media with an expression of gratitude.

The cause of her mother’s death has not been specified. Iman’s mother was a gynecologist. She named her daughter for the word “faith” in Arabic, in preparation for the trials she knew she would face as a girl growing up in Muslim East Africa.