MY MUM MADE ME A FIGHTER
Bianca Jagger on International Women’s Day rally
MARRIAGE to Mick Jagger made her one of the most glamorous women in the world.
Bianca Pérez-mora Macias was an unknown 25-year-old Nicaraguan actress when she met the rocker at a Rolling Stones party months before their lavish showbiz wedding in St Tropez.
Nearly 50 years on, women’s rights activist Bianca is far more than just a famous surname.
She said: “I am not defined by my marriage. I was quite clear in my own mind who I was and where I was going from the beginning.
“My mother is my inspiration. She was a divorced woman in a Catholic country bringing up three children on her own.
“She worked in a cafe to support us. She didn’t teach me feminism, she lived it.”
Since she divorced Mick in 1978 over his adultery with Jerry Hall, Bianca has devoted her life to campaigning for human rights. And today she will march alongside thousands in London on International Women’s Day.
But one of the 74-yearold great-gran’s proudest achievements is the three generations of women who follow her.
That thread of activism runs through her only daughter Jade, 48, Jade’s two daughters Assisi, 26, and Amba, 23, and Assisi’s daughter Ezra, five.
Bianca said: “Jade is a very independent person and very successful in her own right. She has earned her success as a jewellery designer. The jewellery she designs is so beautiful.
“I had her very young and she had Assisi young and now Assisi has done the same. And Jade delivered her own granddaughter. I am very proud of them all, they are wonderful in so many ways. My granddaughter Assisi is an environmentalist and plants a lot of trees.
“I love the way that Ezra is so aware of the environment and plants trees too, even though she’s only five.
“I love the way the girls are so conscious and committed to doing what they believe in. Amba, my other granddaughter is very artistic. She has a child too, River. She is very individual.”
Bianca, who runs the London-based human rights foundation that bears her name, is speaking at today’s March4women rally in the capital, where her address will focus on climate change.
“The reason I march every year is I am deeply committed to fighting for gender equality, challenging the gender pay gap, and fighting against violence against women,” she said. “I love the way young people are engaged in climate change. Greta Thunberg is so admirable.
“She is saying what some of us have been saying for decades but perhaps people are at last listening because she is young.”
Bianca is also angry at Britain’s low conviction rates for rape. And she feels the #Metoo movement has been “a moment of hope”. Speaking about the rape conviction of Harvey Weinstein last month, she added: “It was a great achievement for the women involved.
“#Metoo has made great advances in people’s understanding of what powerful men can get away with but there is still a very long way to go.”