Sir Rod Stewart and Lady Penny have been together for over 25 years, but now, in a rare joint interview, they discussed the secret to their bond
Sir Rod Stewart and Lady Penny have opened up about their marriage(Image: Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
Rod Stewart has admitted the age difference between him and Penny Lancaster does have occasional “downsides” – but insisted they had changed each other for the better during their long-standing marriage.
The pair give a rare joint interview to the BBC for a new series celebrating Christmas. Sitting down next to a festive tree, 80-year-old Rod says he is a changed man thanks to his wife and their marriage of over 25 years. Rod said: “I think, to be honest with you, I think the age difference, there are downsides to the age difference, but not many. I think there’s a maturity, I may have taught Pen, and there’s a certain honesty that she’s taught me.
“I’ve always said we don’t argue before we go to bed, and we do not argue when we’ve had a glass of wine, and we wait till the morning. And if we do have arguments, it’s over real quick. And I try to teach my boys, all of them, ‘real men can say sorry’, and that’s what we do. There’s a wonderful honesty between us and long may it last.”
Rod Stewart says wife Penny has ‘made him more honest’ in rare joint interview(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC / Big Circus)
Looking at her husband, Penny, 54, says: “I think that over the years, you’ve become a lot more understanding and compassionate to others around you, because obviously, you are the super legendary star that Rod Stewart is is on a pedestal all the time but I’m quite diplomatic and carry a lot of empathy, and I think maybe some of that has rubbed off, because the kids will say that dad’s much easier to talk to now. Because I am open and honest it has encouraged Rod to do the same.”
Speaking to BBC’s Anita Rani at their Durrington House, the couple reveal plans for a huge Christmas party for 2025 including a mini Faces reunion, whilst also praising Penny for organising the family reunion which will feature Rod’s children Ruby and Liam and three grandchildren who are flying in from LA. Their own sons Alastair, 19, and 14-year-old Aiden will also be present.
Rod adds: “Penny is a really great organiser. So it’s a gathering of the clan. Penny books all the flights and everything and gets the timing right, she’s organised my life. We have like an eight piece band, my band all get up and play, and usually Ronnie Wood comes up and plays with me. We do a Faces song.”
Rod also looks back at previous Christmases and says his mum once asked him for a “bread bin” when he was successful enough to buy her anything she wanted. Turning to discuss pal Elton John, he explained they spent a bit more on gifts in the Seventies.
He added: “We used to live just around the corner from each other. So we saw a lot of each other. You know, a lot of history there. So I went out down to Selfridges, Harrods, and I bought him this fridge. It don’t look like a fridge, it looks like a piece of furniture. So you press a button and the lid opens, all steam comes out, and up it comes two bottles of champagne, glasses, all chilled and everything. Pour yourself a drink, and it goes back down. So I was all pleased with myself. And I took it over to Elton’s. I said, ‘Here you are, dear’. And he said, ‘Thank you it’s so lovely. Here’s your present’.
“It was a Rembrandt. A Rembrandt etching in those days was worth about 12 grand. It’s up near the cinema room in Beverly Hills. Oh yeah, it’s very special.”
* My Life At Christmas with Anita Rani, featuring Rod and Penny is on BBC One on December 7 at 10.30am.
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