David Bowie’s daughter was in a treatment program when star died, recalls being ‘forcibly’ taken from home

David Bowie's daughter exposes the harsh realities of teen treatment centers in an emotional Instagram revelation about her difficult experiences. Entertainment David Bowie’s daughter was in a treatment program when star died, recalls being ‘forcibly’ taken from home 25-year-old says she was strip-searched, had limited communication and missed Bowie's death while in a Utah facility By Brie Stimson Fox News Published February 24, 2026 8:08pm EST Facebook Twitter Threads Flipboard Comments Print Email Add Fox News on Google close Video David Bowie's childhood friend unveils unseen photos of 'Ziggy Stardust' icon in new book Geoff MacCormack, who grew up with the late entertainer, spoke to Fox News Digital about his "photographic memoir" titled "David Bowie: Rock ’n’ Roll with Me." NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! David Bowie’s daughter said this week that when she was a teenager, she was forcibly taken from her home and put in multiple "dehumanizing" treatment centers, and this all happened while her father was dying of cancer. "Treatment made me realize how much I had to fast-forward my teenage years," she said in a lengthy Instagram video on Feb. 18. "I found myself longing to be a teenager even though I was one, just not in the conventional sense."Alexandria "Lexi" Zahra Jones, the daughter of Bowie and supermodel Iman, said she started seeing a therapist before she was 10 years old after her parents and teacher noticed something was "off." "That was around the time I had my first anxiety attack," she said. Split of David Bowie and his daughter (Lexi Jones/Instagram; Larry Busacca/WireImage) Jones explained that a few years after that, "things got heavier. I started to feel depressed, like my mind was turning against me."The 25-year-old said she was failing in schools, struggling with a learning disability and hated the way she looked, "and I developed bulimia when I was 12." "I started self-harming when I was 11," she continued. "I don’t know why I felt the way I felt. I just knew I was miserable. I felt stupid, incompetent, like unworthy, useless, unlovable. And having successful parents kind of only made it worse."Eventually, she turned to drugs and alcohol after her father was diagnosed with cancer, which she said was her "breaking point." "I did everything I wasn’t supposed to do and more because I was angry, I was scared, I was numb, but I was free, until I wasn’t," she added. As her mental health declined, she said she lashed out and was "cruel" to people because she was searching for respect by becoming someone people "feared." PARIS HILTON DETAILS TRAUMA, ABUSE AT ‘TROUBLED TEEN' FACILITY, KIDS HAVE DIED 'IN THE NAME OF TREATMENT'On a weekday morning after she had gotten ready for school, she said her mom called her into the living room and her mom, dad and godmother were all standing there."I did everything I wasn’t supposed to do and more because I was angry, I was scared, I was numb, but I was free, until I wasn’t." — Lexi JonesShe said her dad read her a letter to her that ended, "I’m sorry that we have to do this." She continued, "Then two men came through the door, and they were both well over six feet tall. They told me I could do this the easy way or the hard way. I chose the hard way. I resisted. I screamed. I held onto the table leg. They grabbed me. They put their hands on me. They pulled me away from everything I knew, and I was screaming bloody murder" for someone to help her. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lexi Jones (@_p0odle_)APP USERS CLICK HERE FOR POSTBut Jones said her parents just watched. "They were crying, but they let it happen." The men looped a rope around her, she explained. "I felt like cattle. I felt stripped of any right to stay in my own life." She was forced into a black SUV."I was alone, I was in a car with two strange men, and they wouldn’t tell me where we were going, and I just sat there completely horrified and silent," she said. Once she arrived at the wilderness center, she said she was strip-searched, and she was issued clothes that included snow pants and hiking boots.The experience she said as a "city girl" was completely unfamiliar to her. "This was not camping. This felt like boot camp’s weird cousin," she said. "And it was disguised as something therapeutic." DAVID BOWIE'S HAIRDRESSER, ‘TOUR MADAM’ RECALLS WARNING SINGER HE WAS HANGING OUT WITH 16-YEAR-OLD FAN During her three months at the wilderness camp, she said she was only allowed to communicate with people from outside the camp once a week through letters, and even then, "only approved people were allowed to write to us or hear from us." During her time there, they made meals over fires, they built themselves and set up tarps that they slept under on a yoga mat and sleeping bag. Lexi with her dad, David Bowie, when she was young. (Lexi Jones/Instagram) "We dug holes in the ground to use as bathrooms far away from the site," she said. "And every time we used the bathroom we had to count out loud so that staff would keep track of us."When she first arrived, she said she wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone else in her gro