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Since JO WOOD split from her partner of 34 years, Rolling Stones rocker Ronnie, she has rediscovered her independence. The challenge now, she tells Judith Woods, is learning to let her new man look after her
‘I feel young and can’t resist acts of erbellion’: Jo Wood on elif afetr her split from Rolling Stones rocker Ronnie
JOWood is peeping out from beneath her choppy fringe, blue eyes dancing with girlish laughter. It seems preposterous that the former wife of Rolling Stones hellraiser Ronnie is now 62 and a grandmother of ten. But since her marriage ended six years ago she’s taken on a new lease of life: Jo may no longer be the edgy rock chick she once was, but make no mistake, she’s not ready to hang up her leather jacket just yet.
On the contrary, she has a new man on her arm, a fabulous villa in Spain, has relaunched her organic beauty brand and is ready to take on the world. ‘I feel amazing. I go to the gym four times a week, I eat well, I’m happy. I’ve got a wonderful family, a nice boyfriend – what else can you ask for? I’ve accepted I am the age I am, but I still feel young and I can’t resist my little acts of rebellion. If I’m not parking in mother-and-child spaces at the supermarket, I’m dodging under barriers at airports instead of traipsing up and down to reach the end of the queue. My partner laughs but I think life’s too short to live by every petty little rule.’
On the subject of airports, not so long ago Jo made headlines when she and her 53-year-old builder boyfriend Paul Scarborough were bumped from an overbooked EasyJet flight from Murcia, Southeast Spain, after a romantic weekend at Jo’s holiday home. ‘They messed with the wrong woman, I can tell you!’ she cries. ‘I use that service like a taxi and when I pay for a seat I expect a seat.’
The pair made alternative arrangements to fly home, then Jo went straight to Twitter and received not only an apology but a full reimbursement. So presumably she’ll be boycotting EasyJet in future? Not a bit of it; among Jo’s many fine attributes is pragmatism. ‘They’ve paid their dues and said sorry so all is forgiven,’ she says. ‘I hope it’s taught them a lesson on how not to treat people – and with any luck I’m on a list somewhere with a warning cross next to it, so they know that I’m trouble and should leave me well alone!’
Petite, pretty, hair tousled and with just a little boost of injectables around her eyes and trademark pout, Jo has something of Goldie Hawn about her – although she prefers comparisons with ‘Brigitte Bardot in her heyday. I have a bit of laser treatment to get rid of age spots on my face but otherwise I’m lucky that I’ve got good genes. Would I go for the full facelift eventually? Yes, sure, but not for a while. I’m quite happy with my body – apart from my bottom. I know girls want big bottoms these days, but I’d rather mine was smaller and neater. But hey, if that’s my only problem I’m a lucky girl.’
Jo uses the term ‘lucky’ a lot. It’s a throwaway, catch-all word that she variously uses to convey relief, pleasure and gratitude that she’s somehow managed to pull through difficult times. But I’d say a lot is down to her own strength of character, quiet determination – and that pragmatism again. Born into a lower-middle-class family in Essex (her father was an architectural model maker, her mother an Avon lady), Jo worked as a model. Her first husband was clothing entrepreneur Peter Greene, with whom she had her eldest son Jamie. When she met Ronnie in 1977, and later married him, he raised Jamie as his own and she became stepmother to Ronnie’s son Jesse, from his first marriage to Krissy Findlay.
Jo and Ronnie went on to have two children together, Leah, 38, and 33-year-old Tyrone, during their 34-year relationship, much of which was spent on the road as the Rolling Stones conquered the globe. ‘There were some crazy times,’ admits Jo. ‘At one point in my 20s my mother would call me up begging me to stop taking drugs because I was so skinny she was certain I would die. Then there was the booze. I remember once, in my 30s, being in Dubai with Ronnie, who went off to bed while I stayed on in the bar. I got into conversation with a horse trainer, we had a drinking competition and I matched him drink for drink. I staggered to bed and felt so bad the next day. I was left asking myself, “What was the point of that?”
‘But I’m a survivor and I’m lucky that I don’t have an addictive personality. When I decided to kick cocaine because I didn’t like how it made me feel, I just stopped – well, I stopped taking it during the week at any rate,’ she laughs wryly. ‘Even alcohol is something I can take or leave and these days I choose to leave it.’
The couple’s three-decade romance came to an end in 2008 when Ronnie, now 70, cheated on her with Ukrainian cocktail waitress Ekaterina Ivanova. The relationship didn’t last and he went on to marry theatre producer Sally Wood, 39, with whom he has 14-month-old twin daughters Gracie and Alice, whom Jo adores.
But it wasn’t always so easy to maintain her equilibrium. ‘I was devastated at first, but in time I realised that splitting from Ronnie really was the best thing that could have happened to me; I got my freedom back. When I was with him I lived in a bubble where my only job was to keep him alive. Since I’ve been on my own I’ve rediscovered who I am, literally climbed mountains, taken part in all-women car rallies and had a blast.’
It was at the summit of one mountain in Kenya in 2009 that Jo had an epiphany. She was on a family break with her friend Jerry Hall, and was struggling to get to the top but kept pushing on. When she