Editing Lenny Bruce (section)

==Personal life==
In 1951, Bruce met [[Honey Harlow]], a [[stripper]] from [[Manila, Arkansas]]. They were married that year, and Bruce was determined to see her stop working as a stripper.<ref>Kottler, Jeffrey A., ''Divine Madness: Ten Stories of Creative Struggle'' (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006), 221.</ref> The couple left New York in 1953 for the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]], where they found work as a [[double act]] at the Cup and Saucer in [[Los Angeles]]. Bruce joined a bill at the club Strip City. Harlow found employment at the Colony Club, widely known as the best burlesque club in Los Angeles at the time.<ref>Goldman, p. 124.</ref>

Bruce left Strip City in late 1954 and found work at various strip clubs in the [[San Fernando Valley]]. As master of ceremonies, he introduced strippers while performing his material. The Valley clubs provided the perfect environment for him to create new routines. According to his primary biographer, Albert Goldman, it was "precisely at the moment when he sank to the bottom of the barrel and started working the places that were the lowest of the low" that he suddenly broke free of "all the restraints and inhibitions and disabilities that formerly had kept him just mediocre and began to blow with a spontaneous freedom and resourcefulness that resembled the style and inspiration of his new friends and admirers, the jazz musicians of the modernist school."<ref>Goldman, p. 133.</ref>

Honey and Lenny's daughter Kathleen ("Kitty") Bruce was born in 1955.<ref name="Official Lenny Bruce site">{{cite web|title=Chronology – The 50s|url=http://www.lennybruceofficial.com/the-life-of-lenny-bruce/chronology-the-50s/|website=The Official Lenny Bruce Site|publisher=Mystic Liquid|access-date=November 28, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113122849/http://www.lennybruceofficial.com/the-life-of-lenny-bruce/chronology-the-50s/|archive-date=November 13, 2011|url-status=dead}}{{cite news |author=O'Malley, Ryan |url=http://www.timesleader.com/pittstondispatch/news/Lenny_Bruce_rsquo_s_daughter_reaching_out_10-04-2009.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123024059/http://www.timesleader.com/pittstondispatch/news/Lenny_Bruce_rsquo_s_daughter_reaching_out_10-04-2009.html |archive-date=November 23, 2011 |title=Lenny Bruce's daughter reaching out: Pittston resident Kitty Bruce hopes to help women in recovery with "Lenny's House"|newspaper=Pittston Dispatch|location=[[Pittston, Pennsylvania]] |access-date=June 18, 2013}}</ref> Honey and Lenny had a tumultuous relationship with many serious domestic disputes, usually the result of serious drug use.<ref>[[Albert Goldman|A.H. Goldman]]. ''Ladies and Gentlemen: Lenny Bruce!!'' (New York: Random House, 1971), p. 190.</ref> They broke up and reunited over and over again between 1956 and Lenny's death in 1966. They first separated in March 1956, and were back together by July of that year when they traveled to Honolulu for a nightclub tour. During the trip, Honey was arrested for marijuana possession and prevented from leaving the island due to her parole conditions. Lenny took this opportunity to leave her again, this time kidnapping the then one-year-old Kitty.<ref>[[Albert Goldman|A.H. Goldman]]. ''Ladies and Gentlemen: Lenny Bruce!!'' (New York: Random House, 1971), p. 206.</ref> In her autobiography, Honey claimed Lenny turned her in to the police. She was later sentenced to two years in federal prison.<ref>H. Bruce, D. Benenson.  ''Honey: The Life and Loves of Lenny's Shady Lady'' (Mayflower, 1977)</ref>

Bruce's [[divorce]] from Honey was finalized in 1959. He had an affair with jazz singer [[Annie Ross]] in the late 1950s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gavin |first=James |date=October 3, 1993 |title=A Free-Spirited Survivor Lands on Her Feet |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/03/movies/pop-music-a-free-spirited-survivor-lands-on-her-feet.html |access-date=November 12, 2012 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Comedian [[Lotus Weinstock]] was Bruce's girlfriend and fiancee at the time of his death.<ref>Weide, Bob. [http://www.duckprods.com/weide/lotusremembrance.html "A Lotus by Any other Name"], Whyaduck Productions, 1998, n.d.</ref>

Bruce had a severe drug addiction in the final decade of his life, using [[heroin]], [[methamphetamine]] and [[Dilaudid]] daily, and suffering numerous health problems and personal strife as a result.<ref>[[Albert Goldman|A.H. Goldman]]. ''Ladies and Gentlemen: Lenny Bruce!!'' (New York: Random House, 1971), p. 343.</ref> His death was caused by an overdose.<ref name=":1" />