Bowie's will directs his ashes to Bali, splits $100 million estate

NEW YORK (Reuters) - David Bowie, the British rock star who died at the age of 69 from cancer earlier this month, directed in his will that his ashes be scattered in Bali, an island that fascinated him, according to a newspaper report.

Bowie’s estimated $100 million estate will go to his wife, children, a nanny and a personal assistant, in accordance with his 20-page will, filed on Friday in Surrogate’s Court in Manhattan, the New York Times said.

His penthouse apartment in the trendy Manhattan neighborhood of Soho, where fans left a wall of flowers upon hearing news of his death on Jan. 10, was left to his widow, model Iman Abdulmajid Jones, the newspaper said. He also left her about half of the remaining estate.

His children, adult son Duncan and teenage daughter Alexandria, will get about 25 percent each and Alexandria was also left Bowie’s mountain retreat in Ulster County, New York.
A nanny who cared for Duncan, Marion Skene, will receive $1 million, the report added.

Bowie left his own long-time personal assistant, Corinne Schwab, or Coco, $2 million and stock in a company called Opossum Inc. It was not immediately clear what business Opossum is involved in.

The will, which was prepared in 2004, was filed under Bowie’s birth name, David Robert Jones, which was never legally changed by the singer who created the pop persona “Ziggy Stardust” in the early 1970s.

The document directed that Bowie be cremated, preferably in Bali “in accordance with the Buddhist rituals,” the newspaper said. He further stated that regardless of where the cremation took place, his ashes should be scattered in Bali.

Bowie was cremated in New Jersey on Jan. 12.

Bowie’s publicist Steve Martin declined to comment on Saturday.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Frank McGurty, Greg Mahlich)