Rod’s debt to four very wise women
NeArly half a century ago, a 26-year-old rod Stewart had a hit album, every Picture tells A Story. the title track has been seen as a song about a man indulging in flings with numerous women, then returning home having learned some tough lessons.
So what could be more symbolic of the Do ya think I’m Sexy rocker’s colourful life than a photo of him alongside four of the five women with whom he has fathered eight children.
taken at a family party, it is believed to be the first time that so many of these so-called ‘rodmothers’ have been seen together. Present were first wife Alana, aged 74 like rod, Kelly emberg, 60, rachel Hunter, 49, and his current wife of 12 years, Penny, 48.
the only mother missing was Susannah Hourde, with whom he had a daughter, now aged 56, who was given up for adoption.
At first sight, such a picture suggests a story of sexual excess, unfaithfulness and abandonment.
yes, feckless men who father children they have no intention of caring for and who dump the mother are rightly condemned. But, partly due to his fabulous wealth, in his own inimitable rod-like way, the singer of Some Guys Have All the luck has presided over his extended family.
As this week’s picture seems to prove, he’s managed to stay close to all but one of the mothers of his children. Indeed, this does ‘tell a story’. Whereas family court lists across the country are tragically littered with cases of fathers refusing to take financial responsibility for their children, rod Stewart — reckoned to be worth £180 million — has done his bit.
But I believe this is more of a tribute to the courage and wisdom of the women in his life. Above all, they have kept close for the well-being of their children, aware how important it is for youngsters to know their father.
In a world with so many broken relationships, squabbling couples ought to ponder the terrible damage being done to their children.
Bury the bitterness, try to remember the happy times, honour the love that resulted in a shared child — for their sake as much as for yours.
Of course, all this is easier for a multi-millionaire. And, no doubt, rod’s getting too old in his leopard-skin loafers to keep pulling younger women.
But if other men look at this picture and it teaches them to respect the estranged mothers of their children, rod Stewart will have done a service that merits his knighthood.