ROD’S DIAMOND GIRL
It’s a Penny for his thoughts!
Rocker Sir Rod Stewart has opened up about his family and life with wife Penny Lady Stewart, the ex-model who he says has helped end his wild ways.
Over the years, the British singer has married three times and fathered eight children by five different women.
But Rod (73) says it’s Penny − whom he married 11 years ago − who continues to win his heart after more than 50 years on the road as one of the world’s most successful rock ‘n’ roll singers.
The star, who currently shares his life with Penny at both their homes in America and the UK, gushes, “I have been married three times and I say this with all honesty. I have got a great woman now.
“Maybe it is because I am a little bit older and I understand women a lot better than I used to. But I have got a diamond by my side now. She really is and I can’t say any more than that. She has got a good heart.”
Rod and Penny tied the knot back in 2007 in the Italian Riviera resort of Portofino in the presence of 100 family and friends. The ceremony was followed by a reception overlooking the coast of Santa Margherita with dinner, dancing and fireworks.
Many critics wondered if ladies’ man Rod would ever settle down after being previously linked to a string of ladies, including actresses Britt Ekland and Alana Hamilton, model Kelly Emberg and New Zealander Rachel Hunter, whom he wed after a whirlwind romance in 1990.
Rod and Rachel, who have two children, Renee (25) and Liam (23), were married for eight years before their acrimonious split in 1999, a move which left Rod devastated.
At the time, Rachel (48) said she left Rod because she felt stifled by their eight-year marriage and that the trappings of their luxury life left her with “no identity”.
Today, Penny (47) says she’s on friendly terms with Rachel, only recently saying,
“Rachel and I, over the years, we’ve grown up and both have a lot in common now. We sit and chat and we’ve got over that silly period 10, 15 years ago.
“It’s about being adults. We’ve moved on and grown up.” And she says the love Rod feels is mutual.
Rod and Penny celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary last year and Penny says she continues to be impressed with her husband’s status as one of music’s greatest trailblazers.
Looking her husband lovingly in the eye, she tells him, “Looking at you when you were 19, it is hard to ignore the likeness in our sons, particularly Alastair who is 12. I loved how unique you were. You did not want to follow what everyone else was doing.
“You were wearing high-heel Cuban boots and three weeks later everyone else was. It seems today everyone
wants to look the same. They all want the same bum, lips, hair and outfits. They are carbon copies.”
Despite his advancing years, Rod continues to tour with residency engagements in Las Vegas, as well as a new US tour with Cyndi Lauper this year.
And although his musical sparing partner Sir Elton
John recently announced his three-year farewell world tour, Rod insists he has no intention of hanging up his microphone just yet.
“Three years? I am surprised he [Elton] did that, I must admit,” says Rod, who recently joked that Elton’s tour was “dishonest” and “stinks of selling tickets”.
“I have got to tell you retirement is far away right now as I am enjoying myself. Obviously, it has got to end some day, but right now? No. There is a tour next year and a new album out September called Blood Red Roses, all new songs by Rod and life is good.”
And although Rod is fighting for space in the charts with younger artists these days, the Do You Think I'm Sexy? singer says he wouldn’t change a thing.
“I have got the best life and a better job than [Donald] Trump. I go out every night and look at the audience, and I send them home happy and laughing. It is not like a game of football where if you lose, you lose. I send them home happy. I would not change it for the world.”
And although his voice may have changed, Rod says his fun personality hasn’t.
“I have changed a bit. There is no doubt about it. I still like a glass of wine, I must admit. I never got into drugs. I think my sense of humour came through and I was not shy, I was not backwards in going forwards.
“It is amazing how my nose has grown now too. Back in those days, my beauty spot was just that big and now it is that thing here.”
He adds, “I have had so many hits but the same hair cut. I have tried to do something different but every time, it shoots back up again. I started it and I am going to finish it.
“I don’t suffer from frizz in Vegas. No, darling. I get picked up at 4pm in LA, go to the airport, do the show at 7.30pm and I am back in bed in LA by 11pm.”
Today, Rod is said to be worth millions of dollars but even so, he remains humble due to his modest upbringing in Highgate, North London.
And that is a trait Rod says he wants to pass on to all of his children, including his youngest with Penny − Aiden (7) and Alastair (12).
“My dad and my family were always supporting me,” says the singer, who was knighted in 2016.
“There were a few troubles, ‘Rod is this, Rod is that, no income’, but they used to say, ‘Give him a bit of time.’ My dad was really behind me, just brilliant. If you go out on a career when you are a youngster, you’ve got to have your family behind you, pushing and pushing you.”
And Rod says it is now family he runs home to once one of his shows is over.
Looking back on his old ways, he admits, “My chat-up line when I was younger was, ‘Hello darling, what have you got in your basket?’ I used to say that when I was in my twenties. It used to catch them out and they used to give me a response.
“But touring now is not like it used to be. It used to be pretty wild, but I don’t get up to that now. I plan the tours around my boys’ school holidays now, as when the other kids were growing up, I was working so much, trying to make a name for myself, I missed them, especially the first two kids. I missed them growing up but I am making up for it now.”