Rod: Darling, I don’t want to talk about it...
HE was once as famous for the glamorous girlfriends on his arm as for his music.
But Rod Stewart admits that the way he speaks to women would now be widely frowned upon.
Describing how he would fall foul of political correctness, Sir Rod said: ‘You’re not allowed to call anybody “darling” or “love”, that’s all out the window now.
‘I think that they’re friendly terms, as long as it’s not shouting across the road “Allo darling, what you got in that basket?”
‘All the girls in my band I call darling, and I don’t think their husbands or boyfriends are offended.
‘I call men friends darling. I call Elton darling.’
The 76-year-old father of eight is embracing the modern world with a new album and a desire to get back on stage, and says his attitudes towards romance have changed. The star married third wife Penny Lancaster in 2007, eight years after they met, and the couple have two sons. He says he is now so devoted that he doesn’t even flirt.
Sir Rod said: ‘There were a lot of beautiful women but we had nothing to say at the end of the evening.
‘I would long for one woman in my life. I longed to be in a romance, a relationship that was a lot deeper than just sex. And I found it. I’m madly in love. These days, I don’t flirt with anybody at all. I wouldn’t dare. I mean, I don’t want to.’
While achieving huge success with hits including Maggie May, Sailing and I Don’t Want To Talk About It, the singer appeared to enjoy every element of rock stardom in the 1970s including big houses and fast cars in his trademark tight trousers and bouffant hair.
But he now says the availability of casual sex was ‘too much for me’, adding ‘it was always there and it became boring’.
Sir Rod, a Celtic fan who thinks of Scotland as his spiritual home, said he plans to keep performing as long as he can sing and take his music to a new generation of fans.
His new album, Tears of Hercules, is his fifth in nine years and he worked on it during lockdown when not tinkering with his model railway.
He said: ‘I can’t wait to get back on stage. I feel privileged. What a glorious job. Best job in the world. I can’t think of a better one.’