Let’s spend the knit together . . . Stones hellraiser Ronnie reveals unlikely hobby
IT doesn’t quite fit the image of a man who’s spent more than half a century steeped in the rock and roll lifestyle.
But Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, despite decades of drug taking and alcohol abuse, is a dab hand at knitting.
Now 73, he revealed he spends his evenings producing ‘ endless scarves’. And, as for substance abuse, he’s partial to an espresso now and then.
Wood, after five drink-fuelled years with Rod Stewart in the Faces, joined The Rolling Stones in 1975. He later began taking epic quantities of cocaine and heroin – often alongside fellow guitarist Keith Richards – and became an alcoholic.
But these days, the booze, drugs and cigarettes are gone and he’s enjoying a more sedate life with theatre producer wife Sally, 42, and their four-year-old twin daughters Alice and Gracie.
He said: ‘I do knit. I used to hold the spool of wool for my mum. She taught me the plain stitch and I still do it today. I knit endless scarves now.’
His occasional high is now confined to coffee. ‘I am an espresso man but that is an old leftover habit from rehab,’ he told the Tea with Twiggy podcast. ‘I couldn’t do anything else so coffee was the thing. I hope I am a living, walking example of [coffee being good for you] because I drink enough of the stuff.’
Wood, who has been sober for ten years and is an accomplished artist, was known for ‘freebasing’ – smoking pure cocaine – at showbiz parties.
Two years ago he had a cancerous lesion removed from his lungs and is now said to be clear of the disease.
He said last year about his drug use: ‘I can’t believe I’m still here. Cocaine, heroin, booze, freebasing, I went for it all, but it’s the fags that are almost the hardest to kick.’
As well as his young family, Wood has two adult children from his marriage to Jo Wood, which ended in divorce in 2009.
‘Coffee was the thing’