Sir Rod Stewart and his wife Penny Lancaster have been happily married for 18 years having tied the knot in 2007. The Maggie May singer’s other half, who recently published her memoir Someone Like Me, spoke candidly about their relationship before becoming his wife in a new interview. The mum-of-two revealed she was a 27 year old student at Barking College when she first met Rod, who is 26 years older than his now wife.
Penny, 54, explained the musician, 80, urged her to leave an unhealthy relationship before they embarked on a romance. Rod would later invite her on a trip to the Bahamas only for her to find a wardrobe full of designer clothes on arrival that he had personally selected for her.
Speaking to Amanda Wakeley on the Style DNA podcast, she said: “While I was still at college, Rod invited me to go to the Bahamas. Now, I was finished with my ex.
“Rod just said to me, ‘Look, what are you doing? Don’t think about leaving this guy for me, just thinking about leaving him for you. It’s not a healthy relationship.
That relationship ended very shortly after that trip to Spain with Rod.”
Penny decided to end her relationship with an ex-boyfriend and moved back in with her parents.
She explained: “Then comes single Penny. Moved back with parents, invited out to the Bahamas. I’m at photography college at Barking College. I don’t know where my future is going to take me.
I turned up to the Bahamas. I don’t have much money to buy new clothes. I needn’t have worried. I arrived at this house that his friend had rented and showed me into this bedroom, opened up the wardrobes and it was full of clothes and shoes for me.”
The Loose Women panellist suggested some may have seen Rod’s sweet gesture as “controlling” but she admitted he helped a young Penny shed all of her insecurities.
“Some might think isn’t that a bit controlling but actually I think he knew where I was at and he knew the struggles I had gone through because we’d had lots of conversations over the phone in that time leading up to the trip,” she remarked.
Penny added: “He wanted a moment for me to shed all of those insecurities
“There were a lot of short skirts and skimpy things. I had a good figure and he was like, ‘why are you covering yourself up?'”
In January 1999, a then-27-year-old Penny met Rod Stewart, then 53, while at a party with a friend at the Dorchester Hotel.
Her pal had dared Penny to ask for Rod’s autograph. His now wife revealed that she was a photography student at Barking College in Essex, and via this conversation she managed to score a job as Rod’s tour photographer.
During their 25 year relationship and 18 year marriage, the couple have welcomed two sons together. Rod has eight children with five different mothers. His children are Sarah, Kimberly, Sean, Ruby, Renee, Liam, Alastair, and Aiden.
