She worked to keep comedian's legacy alive

Lenny Bruce’s daughter Kitty has died at the age of 70.

The legendary American comedian’s only child died of a blood clot during a knee replacement surgery, US media have reported.

Her mother was Harriett ‘Honey’ Bruce, the stripper whom Bruce married within months of meeting in 1951. However, their relationship was tumultuous, repeatedly breaking up and reuniting following drug-induced arguments. 

In March 1956, Honey was arrested for marijuana possession in Honolulu and prevented from leaving the island due to her parole conditions. Lenny took this opportunity to leave her again,  kidnapping one-year-old Kitty. In her autobiography, Honey claimed Lenny turned her in to the police.  

Kitty’s family issued a statement today saying: ‘On November 7, 1955, Kitty was born into a life that was anything but ordinary – from her very first days she entered a world already in motion, complicated, loud, and very public, shaped by forces larger than most people ever encounter.

‘What is remarkable is not that she survived them, but what she chose to do because of them. She chose compassion. She chose service. She chose love.’

She founded Lenny’s House, a recovery home for women with substance abuse issues, as well as setting up a foundation offering   scholarships for people with the same problems.

In one interview, she said: ‘I thought my father should be remembered and his legacy should be something that should change lives and make the world a better place. He had a very kind and gentle side. 

‘With that being said, I had offers to have his name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the other [offer] was for a plaque. But I don’t want a dopey plaque and, as far as the star on Hollywood Boulevard, I don’t want his name walked on. So that was a two for two, no.’

She also admitted having substance issues herself before setting up the charities, saying in another interview: ‘I couldn’t imagine my life without me having something in my system. From heroin to vodka, I became a woman with no joy, no hope and no plans.’

But she got clear and said: ‘I now know what it’s like to be living with nothing in my system but joy and happiness. ‘

Kitty also established an archive of her father’s life and work at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

Lenny, died of a drug overdose in 1996, at 40, when Kitty was just ten. She leaves no immediate survivors.

Published: 22 May 2026