--- title: David Bowie’s Son Breaks Social Media Silence to Share Emotional Thank You Letter description: "Your story became a way for us to communicate very openly about death" canonical: https://time.com/4184257/david-bowies-thank-you-letter/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-18T08:41:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:29.783Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: David Bowie's Son Breaks Social Media Silence to Share Emotional Thank You og:description: Duncan Jones shared a touching letter from a physician to the late singer og:url: https://time.com/4184257/david-bowies-thank-you-letter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4433d68c0ea27329/6988797c0a4a225f429c7f1e/gettyimages-74413529.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The 11th Annual Webby Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: David Bowie's Son Breaks Social Media Silence to Share Emotional Thank You twitter:description: Duncan Jones shared a touching letter from a physician to the late singer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4433d68c0ea27329/6988797c0a4a225f429c7f1e/gettyimages-74413529.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # David Bowie's Son Breaks Social Media Silence to Share Emotional Thank You Letter > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Lindsay Kimble / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Lindsay Kimble / People Jan 18, 2016 8:41 AM UTC  Musician David Bowie speaks onstage while accepting the Webby Lifetime Achievement award at the 11th Annual Webby Awards une 5, 2007. Musician David Bowie speaks onstage while accepting the Webby Lifetime Achievement award at the 11th Annual Webby Awards une 5, 2007.Bryan Bedder—Getty Images by [Lindsay Kimble / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Lindsay Kimble / People Jan 18, 2016 8:41 AM UTC [Duncan Jones](http://www.people.com/article/david-bowie-dead-no-memorial-service-funeral-planned) returned to [social media](https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon) on Sunday for the first time since his father [David Bowie](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:DavidBowie,00.html)‘s [death](http://www.people.com/article/david-bowie-dead-at-69), re-sharing a letter from a British palliative care physician written to the late British singer. Jones, 44, initially wrote he’d be “offline for a while” when Bowie died a week ago after a battle with cancer, but ended his silence to share a Twitter link to the note through the [Marie Curie organization](https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/who). > [](https://twitter.com/mariecurieuk/status/688808148107395072) In the [thank you letter](http://blogs.bmj.com/spcare/2016/01/15/a-thank-you-letter-to-david-bowie-from-a-palliative-care-doctor/?utm%5Fsource=twitter&utm%5Fmedium=socialorganic&utm%5Fcampaign=conversation&utm%5Fcontent=bowiedoc%5F150116), U.K. palliative care consultant Dr. Mark Taubert wrote that Bowie’s own [private](http://blogs.bmj.com/spcare/2016/01/15/a-thank-you-letter-to-david-bowie-from-a-palliative-care-doctor/?utm%5Fsource=twitter&utm%5Fmedium=socialorganic&utm%5Fcampaign=conversation&utm%5Fcontent=bowiedoc%5F150116) approach to his health helped him ease a dying patient’s fears. “At the beginning of that week I had a discussion with a hospital patient, facing the end of her life,” Taubert said. “We discussed your death and your music, and it got us talking about numerous weighty subjects, that are not always straightforward to discuss with someone facing their own demise. In fact, your story became a way for us to communicate very openly about death, something many doctors and nurses struggle to introduce as a topic of conversation.” Taubert later concluded that discussing Bowie’s life helped the patient visualize the thoughts she “had of her own dying moments.” He wrote, “you gave her a way of expressing this most personal longing to me, a relative stranger.” Taubert also issued a number of “thank you”s to Bowie, including for his final album [_Blackstar_](http://www.people.com/article/david-bowie-blackstar-album-sales-networth), which was released just days before the singer’s death. “Thank you for ‘[Lazarus](http://www.people.com/article/david-bowie-final-music-video-might-have-been-a-goodbye)‘ and _Blackstar_,” Taubert said. “I am a palliative care doctor, and what you have done in the time surrounding your death has had a profound effect on me and many people I work with. Your album is strewn with references, hints and allusions. As always, you don’t make interpretation all that easy, but perhaps that isn’t the point.” Bowie’s longtime friend Robert Fox opened up about Bowie’s private nature in a new [interview](http://www.people.com/article/david-bowie-longtime-friend-richard-fox-nobody-knew-bowie-was-sick) Saturday, explaining that “nobody knew” the star was dying. “He wanted the minimum of fuss,” Fox said. “He was just a private man. And I think he wanted to protect his family from the insanity there would have been. It would have impinged on the album, _Lazarus_, his family – everyone would have been inundated at a time when he didn’t need that or want that. And he did it perfectly.” [ _This article originally appeared on People.com_](http://www.people.com/article/duncan-jones-shares-note-from-palliative-care-doctor) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4184257/david-bowies-thank-you-letter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4184257/david-bowies-thank-you-letter/"},"headline":"David Bowie's Son Breaks Social Media Silence to Share Emotional Thank You Letter","datePublished":"2016-01-18T08:41:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:56:29.783Z","description":"\"Your story became a way for us to communicate very openly about death\"","url":"https://time.com/4184257/david-bowies-thank-you-letter/","keywords":["celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4433d68c0ea27329/6988797c0a4a225f429c7f1e/gettyimages-74413529.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lindsay Kimble / People"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4433d68c0ea27329/6988797c0a4a225f429c7f1e/gettyimages-74413529.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 11th Annual Webby Awards","caption":"The 11th Annual Webby Awards","creditText":"Bryan Bedder—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4184257/david-bowies-thank-you-letter/","name":"David Bowie's Son Breaks Social Media Silence to Share Emotional Thank You Letter"}}]}] ```