The man who introduced David Bowie to his future wife Iman has told how the pop icon was racked with loneliness before falling in love at first sight.

Bowie was at the height of worldwide fame but trapped in a desperately ­solitary life at the end of the 1980s, ­according to his close friend and ­personal hairdresser Teddy Antolin.

Too famous to lead an ordinary life, the megastar from a London suburb struggled with the adulation of millions of fans.

But that changed when Teddy ­arranged for the troubled star to meet supermodel Iman at his birthday party in Los Angeles in 1990.

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The pair immediately hit it off and Bowie – who died last week aged 69 from liver cancer – dedicated his time away from music to being the perfect partner for Iman, now 60.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday People , Teddy, 68, said: “David was very lonely. It was so sad – all this hard work David did each day and then he was alone.”

(Image: Westley Hargrave)

The flamboyant hairdresser met Somalia-born Iman at another showbiz party in LA.

Teddy said: “I didn’t want to speak to her at first. I thought it would be so cliché if I say ‘How beautiful you are’ but you end up doing that and we started talking and a light bulb went on.”

He begged New York-based Bowie to fly to LA specially for his birthday dinner party at a restaurant where ­unsuspecting Iman would be a guest.

Teddy said: “David arrived in a white Mustang sports car, wearing white jeans and a white jacket, all denim.

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“Iman showed up in a black Mercedes wearing all black leather. And I thought, what could be more perfect.

“The minute she walked in all the attention went to her, she just claimed the room.

“She had a big smile and her and David looked at each other and it was love at first sight, you could feel the electricity, something went off.

“They spent the night talking to each other like they had known each other forever. They were looking at each other like, ‘Now what, shall we skip dessert and go home?’

“There was no one else in their lives but those two from then on.”

The couple were ­engaged in months. But although their first meeting was straightforward, the ­engagement wasn’t. According to Teddy, Iman turned Bowie down at his first proposal.

Teddy said: “I asked her, ‘Are you going to marry him, has he asked you?’ and she said, ‘He’s asked…I said no!’

“I said, ‘What do you mean?’ and she said, ‘Well he’s not met my family, my mother and father and brothers, and I don’t know his mother’.”

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The lovestruck couple then arranged to meet each other’s families. Iman, daughter of a Somali diplomat, was introduced to Bowie’s ex-waitress mum Peggy, from Kent.

Teddy said: “Iman didn’t really turn him down but just didn’t want to say yes. She was like hold on we’ve got to meet some people first, you’re not just marrying me, you’re marrying my tribe, my family.”

Smitten Bowie then proposed again – and this time Iman said yes. Teddy said: “David took her out to the Adriatic Sea and ­proposed in the Bosphorus Strait on his yacht – so very romantic.

(Image: Camera Press)

“He gave her this beautiful, I don’t know how many carats, like 15-carat ring, a beautiful star ­sapphire surrounded with diamonds. And then she got a yellow canary diamond ring, so she had two engagement rings and the canary was like 14 carat and was stunning.

“He picked out the ­sapphire and they both picked the ­yellow diamond together.”

The pair had a formal marriage at Lausanne City Hall in Switzerland on April 24, 1992.

They followed it up with an extravagant wedding in a villa in Tuscany, Italy, on June 6 with celebrity guests including John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono , music producer Brian Eno and fashion kingpin Valentino.

Teddy, who did both of the couple’s hair for the ceremony, said: “It was stunning. David was very happy, he never looked better, he was so sharp. He did make a speech and after dinner we went to dance.

“David had put together a really great tape, disco and dance music and a few of his own but not too much. It was a fun party.”

In 2000 the couple had daughter Alexandria, known as Lexi, now 15. One of the biggest changes in married Bowie’s life was his insistence on quitting booze and drugs.

(Image: Collect)

Teddy said: “David managed to become ­sober when he met Iman. He decided, ‘I met her, I’m changing my life, I’ve got to impress this woman and step up’ and he did.

“He did everything to change any kind of bad habits he had and it was remarkable because David never had a drink after that or anything.”

But one indulgence the star found impossible to quit was cigarettes.

Teddy said: “It was the worst-kept secret that David was smoking, because allegedly on the last tour (in 2004) he was not smoking.

“But he just liked to smoke. It’s a nervous reaction. I smoked, we would talk about our cholesterol levels.

“Mine was fine and David was telling me his was getting better and it was 230 and I’m thinking 230, that’s not good.

“He was only one who could smoke backstage. Nobody said anything and I would always leave my box of cigarettes open so he could just take one and not have to ask me.”

Bowie also had a weakness for French pastries.

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Teddy said: “I’m always dieting so we would go to Paris, I would buy six cream puffs and coffee eclairs everyday, and instead of me eating them I would say, ‘David I bought you a present’ and he would eat them.

“He liked his specialities. But David was not a fat person, he was thin. On the road he had a trainer and he worked out every day, sometimes twice.”

Bowie’s last tour in 2004 ended abruptly when he had emergency heart surgery.

He had been getting treatment for what he thought was a pinched nerve in his shoulder before doctors ­discovered he had an acutely blocked artery.

Bowie reduced his musical output, making occasional appearances with other musicians while also ­doing some acting, appearing in Ricky Gervais’s BBC sitcom Extras.

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His final album Blackstar was ­released on his 69th birthday just two days before his death.

Teddy, who occasionally spoke to him on the phone, said: “The last couple of years I just started feeling something’s not right here, he was too quiet. I didn’t know anything and I didn’t want to start any rumour. It was just my own personal feeling.

“He had a very small circle who knew. It was a shock when I found out he died.

“All of a sudden my brain was in a hurricane, I couldn’t think straight. I didn’t fall asleep until 8am the next morning. When I woke I thought maybe that was all a big dream and put on the news.

“And there of course were pictures of David, and it’s not a dream.”