Rod Stewart has left an indelible mark in the hearts and minds of millions of people worldwide, continuing to make an impact in the lives of many up until today through his music. But outside his career as an artist, Stewart is known for being a great family man. The father of eight became a grandfather for the first time in 2011 and often speaks about how much family has taken priority over his career. The rock star also has nothing but praise for his wife, Penny Lancaster, whom he has been married to for almost two decades.
Stewart is among the best-selling music artists of all time. He started his career in 1962, joining Jimmy Powell and The Five Dimensions as the band’s harmonica player and vocalist. Apart from joining different groups throughout his musical career, Stewart also established himself as a soloist. To date, he has released a total of 32 studio albums and seven of those reached No. 1 on the UK album charts.
He is most known for his hits like “Sailing,” “Tonight the Night (Gonna Be Alright),” and “You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim),” among many other chart-toppers that eventually became classic hits. For all his achievements over his six-decade career, Stewart’s worth now stands at $300 million.
The rock star has eight children from five different women and has married three times. He has been wed to his current wife, Lancaster, since 2007. They share his two youngest children, aged 18 and 12. As a rock star, it’s not usual for Stewart to have had quite a tumultuous love life. However, since settling down with Lancaster, the music icon has turned over a new leaf and become a doting husband who can find almost no fault with his beloved wife.
Rod Stewart, Aiden Stewart (2017), (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images Sport via Getty Images)
The family of Rod Stewart expanded in May 2023 after the legendary British rock star welcomed two grandsons in a matter of days! On May 9, 2023, Ruby, born in 1987, and Stewart’s daughter with ex-partner Kelly Emberg, celebrated Mother’s Day by welcoming a baby into the world with her long-term partner Jake Kalic. She had a son whom she named Otis Stewart Kalic.
Ruby announced her engagement to Jake in January 2023 and also confirmed that they were having a boy in the spring. Stewart was the first to know the gender of their baby because he sealed off the paper indicating the details to read out loud to his family, per People.
Three days after Otis’s arrival, Liam, born in 1994, and Stewart’s son with ex-wife Rachel Hunter, announced the birth of his firstborn son on Instagram as well. Louie Mark Roderick was born on May 12, 2023, and he is the namesake of his multi-awarded grandfather. Liam and his wife, Nicole, had a gender reveal party in December 2023, so they also knew that they were having a son.
Both babies were born in Los Angeles, where Stewart’s other daughter, Kimberly, who he had with his first ex-wife Alana Collins, also lives. Born in 1979, Kimberly runs a business and has Delilah, Stewart’s first grandchild.
Aside from Ruby, Liam and Kimberly, Stewart has six other children. His eldest, Sarah, was born in 1963. She is the daughter of Susannah Boffey, Stewart’s ex-girlfriend from a long time ago.
The “Hot Legs” singer also has Kimberly’s brother, Sean, born in 1980, and Liam’s sister, Renee, born in 1992. His youngest children are Alastair, born in 2005, and Aiden, born in 2011, with his current wife Penny Lancaster.
Rod Stewart (2014), (Donald Kravitz/Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images)
As a 78-year-old grandfather, Stewart is quite hands-on and involved. He helped out Delilah with a school project by doing a diorama of Maryland together. The child seems to have inherited her grandfather’s musical talent, as she knows how to play the violin and has performed in school plays with a lot of confidence.
Following his granddaughter’s birth in 2011, Stewart released a statement saying that his joy as a first-time grandfather had been “indescribable,” and he threw a party at an Italian restaurant to celebrate Kimberly and Delilah.
As a father to eight children, Stewart told People that he has to adjust and treat each one of his kids as individuals because of their age differences. He also admitted that there were some rough periods with his older children because they experimented with alcohol or drugs or there were issues with their mothers, which were resolved over time.
“I have to be several different fathers because of the different age groups of my kids,” Stewart said. “You really have to treat all of them as individuals with individual problems.”
“As a dad, I’ve learned to listen and not blow my top,” Stewart added.
The singer, however, feels lucky because his children are never embarrassed to be seen out in public with their dad. His sons even borrow some of his clothes, which indicates that they love their father’s sense of style.
In June 2023, it was reported Stewart had put his sprawling Los Angeles home in the high-end North Beverly Park area up for sale. The property was commissioned in the early 1990s after Stewart married his second wife, model Hunter.
Rod Stewart (2021), (Samir Hussein/WireImage via Getty Images)
The estate comprises a 28,500-square-foot English country-style main house and a 4,500-square-foot guest house with a total of 13 bedrooms and 19 bathrooms, as well as three acres of manicured lawns.
According to the Daily Mail, sources close to Stewart said he had grown weary of Los Angeles’ “toxic” culture and felt that he had “zero privacy.” The insiders revealed the family also found traveling back and forth between Los Angeles and the UK – where his wife Lancaster works with the police and their two sons attend school – a “nuisance.”
Sources said Stewart’s decision to sell the Los Angeles estate and stay in Essex full-time had the blessing of all his older children, who “all know how happy him and Penny are living there and that is all they want is for their father to be happy,” the Daily Mail reported. Since welcoming his first grandchild in 2011, Stewart has also been a doting grandfather.
“Rod is so devoted to his family and is very close with all of them. He is at an amazing place in his life and is elated about being a grandfather to his three grandchildren,” an insider told the outlet.
Stewart, Lancaster and their two sons live in Durrington House, which the couple purchased in 2016 for $5.8 million.
Stewart always kept a special place in his heart for his homeland. “Rod has always considered Britain to be his home. Los Angeles was everything that he needed it to be for that time in his life, but it is obvious that he does not favor LA anymore. It has just gotten so toxic and he has zero privacy in the city,” a source told Daily Mail.
Rod Stewart (2022), (John Phillips/Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images For Bauer Media)
Stewart opened up to Mail Online about his hairy past with women. “There was a period in my life — and it wasn’t a prolonged one, maybe just a few years — where it was a bit ‘one in, one out,'” he admitted.
“The girls involved would never have known that, obviously,” he told the outlet. Most people believed that he would never actually settle down with one woman for the rest of his life. However, he met his third and current wife, Lancaster, at the Dorchester Hotel in London days after he and his ex-wife, Australian model Hunter got divorced.
“The bass player in my band, Carmine, said, ‘Listen, you’ve just come out of a long nine-year marriage. You’re not ready yet,'” he told People. “I nearly strangled him! Six months later, he gave me (Lancaster’s) phone number and she came over. She has mended my heart in more ways than one,” he remarked.
Despite the 26-year age difference between the twosome, Stewart and Lancaster’s relationship seems to have only blossomed with time.
“A kiss and a cuddle and a hold. Penny and I do that every morning. We hug each other — sometimes in bed, sometimes out of bed, all throughout the day. It’s a wonderful relationship. Lucky geezer, aren’t I?” he gushed to the outlet.
Lancaster felt the same way and told the Mirror: “Our honeymoon period seems to have lasted forever, we still have a connection like we just met.”
She added one secret to keeping the relationship strong was to make sure she divided her time and attention equally between Stewart and her children.
“I make a very conscious effort to dedicate time – the two of us going out for dinner or having breakfast together. Just a moment amongst the madness, he still needs attention,” she explained.
Penny Lancaster, Rod Stewart (2007), ( Nick Harvey/contributor/WireImage via Getty Images)
As a rock star’s wife, Lancaster has frequently been the target of scrutiny by the public and press over her looks. Such was the case in April 2023, when the 52-year-old was photographed on vacation at a beach in Australia. The confident-looking Lancaster donned a paisley-print string bikini as she enjoyed the warm weather and sunny environment. However, Lancaster soon came under fire from the public, who criticized her over her choice of swimwear.
“A one-piece bathing suit would be so much more attractive,” one user commented, while another said, “Does she own a full-length mirror? Some women really need to be advised when it’s time to ditch the (string) bikini for something a little more modest, def more flattering & stylishly more age appropriate.”
A third user remarked, “The denial of reality is mind-blowing. She does not ‘look great.’ I can never unsee that,” while another commenter wrote, “Looks nice and healthy, but sad that modesty is dead. Why can’t women cover their derriers anymore?”
One person sure not to agree with all the trolls is Stewart, who had once described his wife as the “most gorgeous woman.” According to the Mirror, the star told the Press Association his 2021 track “I Can’t Imagine” was written with Lancaster in mind and contained the lyrics, “Thank you, girl, for saving my heart, I can’t imagine waking up with anybody else but you.”
Stewart also described Lancaster as “absolutely the most gorgeous woman I have ever had in my life.”
He also gushed to The Express about how Lancaster leaves him “lost for words.”
“I’m stunned that Penny has kept me around for 20 years. … I am lost for words. They have not invented the words for how I feel about her. She is everything,” he said.
Penny Lancaster, Alastair (2009), (Tullio Puglia/FilmMagic via Getty Images)
What are your thoughts on Stewart and Lancaster’s relationship? If their love for each other moved you, then be sure to pass this on to friends and family who’d enjoy reading about their bond, too.
