Zulekha Haywood
Zulekha Haywood is the daughter of basketball player Spencer Haywood and supermodel Iman. She was seen on the talk show Kathie Lee and Hoda, opening up about her weight loss struggle.
However, the celebrity child led a life away from the spotlight. And as so, Haywood remains an elusive figure. Nonetheless, here’s what we could dig up on Zulekha. Learn about her age and more down below.
Zulekha Haywood Wiki: Age, father, stepfather, and siblings
Zulekha was born on July 5, 1978. She is 39 years old now. She is the only daughter of Iman and her ex-husband Spencer Haywood. Her grandparents are Mohamed Abdulmajid and Marian Abdulmajid.
She has three paternal half-sisters – Shaakira Haywood, Nikiah Haywood, and Isis Haywood – from her father’s second marriage. She also has one maternal half-sister, Alexandria Zahra Jones, and a stepbrother, Duncan Jones, from her mother’s second husband, David Bowie.
Zulekha Haywood and Iman do not have a good relationship. It is said that Iman is not a good mother. She didn’t care about her daughter and told her that she was fat like a whale. Zulekha said that Iman went to parties and left her home alone with no food.
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In Spencer’s autobiography, The Rise, The Fall, The Recovery, he said that there was no love between the two of them. He said that Iman turned him into a cocaine addict and an alcoholic.
Zulekha Haywood’s struggles with obesity
Zulekha opened up about her struggle with obesity on the talk show Kathie Lee and Hoda. Although she is the daughter of a supermodel and a basketball player, she has always had issues with her weight.
Zulekha admits she once weighed more than 320 pounds and has been dieting more or less since she was 8. She would often follow the “Basta (meaning enough in Italian)” diet at home. Her mother would whisper “Basta” whenever she was in danger of over-eating.
Her father had told her, “Eat like a pig, run like a horse.” She played tennis for 4 hours a day and lost 30 pounds, but she gained 20 pounds after Christmas.
She would assure her ex-boyfriend Eric that the hot water is tricky and make him shower first because she was obese and getting up after 8 hours was difficult for her. Speaking to Glamour, Zulekha said, “At 330 pounds, I had developed heel spurs and swollen knees that made it excruciatingly painful to stand up after lying down for eight hours, so getting out of bed was always an orchestrated event. I’d send any man who slept over off to shower, and once the coast was clear, I’d swing my legs out and put my feet on the ground gingerly, allowing the blood to return to my feet and legs. After a minute, I could stand. After another minute, I was comfortable enough to start walking.”
She already had high blood pressure and osteoarthritis. Her doctors also said that being obese would cut her life expectancy in half, and she may have a risk of diabetes and heart disease. She then decided to make a change in her weight.
The results of Zulekha Haywood’s weight loss surgery
On her 28th birthday, she decided to visit a surgeon and then had gastric band surgery. She had complications after the surgery, had to stay in an ICU and even needed another surgery. She was then discharged after a week.
One month after surgery, Zulekha lost 20 pounds and her need to eat more declined. Then after 6 months, she lost 80 pounds and the difference was seen, and after a year, she was 160 pounds. Everyone started complimenting her after that. She is half of her previous weight now and is happy about it. She is happy to become a U.S. size 6 down from size 26.
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