Sir Rod Stewart's heartbreaking message to Penny Lancaster on his 80th birthday

With his headline Glastonbury slot certain to be one of the must-see events of the summer, it’s hard to believe that rock legend Sir Rod Stewart celebrates his 80th birthday this week, as OK! reports. The spiky-haired singer reaches the milestone on 10 January, but shows no sign of giving up the 60-year career that has seen him sell a whopping 120 million records globally. “I have no desire to retire,” Rod declared on Instagram in November.

“I’m fit, have a full head of hair and can run 100 metres in 18 seconds at the age of 79.” Rod’s birthday celebrations are being overseen by his wife Penny Lancaster, who previously said she was planning a series of special events that would last “several weeks”. The Essex-based pair are believed to have spent Christmas at their home in Palm Beach, Florida, before sailing to the Caribbean in time for the big day.

It’s fair to assume they will be joined for the festivities by several of Rod’s eight children, including his and 53-year-old Penny’s sons Alastair, 19, and Aiden, 13, as well as his four daughters and two sons from former relationships: Sarah, 61, Kimberly, 45, Ruby, 37, Renee, 32, Sean, 44, and Liam, 30. Rod’s three grandchildren, Delilah, 13, and Otis and Louie, who are both 19 months, are also likely to be part of the fun. Known affectionately as the “Rodfather” by his extended clan, Rod once told how the age gaps between his children means being “several different fathers” all at once.

But having a large, blended family keeps him young at heart too, and he has said, “If there’s a fountain of youth, it’s children.” Even today, lifelong Celtic fan Rod is known to enjoy playing football with his brood, saying recently, “I’ve always played soccer, and I still do. I play with my kids as well. I keep myself really fit. I work out a bit. I’m mad about nutrition, watching my weight and everything. So I do work at it, and I think that helps a lot.”

Despite being 27 years younger than her husband, former model and Loose Women presenter Penny has revealed that Rod keeps her on her toes, too. “He’s a workaholic and constantly on the move,” she has said. “I struggle to keep up with his training schedule. He works out three or four times a week — even on tour.” The couple first met in 1999 when Penny was a photographer and Rod agreed to let her take photos of him on tour.

At the time, he was separated from model and actress Rachel Hunter, his second wife and mother of his children Renee and Liam. Before that, Rod was married to actress Alana Stewart, mother to Kimberly and Sean. Devoted Rod has called third wife Penny “the most gorgeous woman I have ever had in my life” and proposed to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris in March 2005. “I opened the box and he had bought me the most amazing princess-cut diamond engagement,” she later recalled. “It was classic and striking. I was stunned, threw my arms around him, and burst into tears.”

They married in Portofino in Italy in 2007, before an intimate gathering of close family and friends. Last June, when they celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary and more than two decades as a couple, Rod wrote on social media, “25 years together and no red flags.” With their relationship remaining as strong as ever, Penny has said, “Rod and I can have dinner in a crowded room or just the two of us — we always have eyes for each other.”

Meanwhile, when she took part in Strictly in 2007, she revealed how Rod would get jealous while watching her spinning around the dance floor with partner Ian Waite. “I’ve lost my wife, she’s in the arms of another man,” he’d say. “She’s spending five to six hours a day with another man.” Away from the cameras, Penny — who joined the City of London police in 2021 as a special constable — has told how Rod helped her cope with the “inferno” of menopause, which affected her so badly she would even throw plates of food across the kitchen.

She was initially misdiagnosed with depression, but Rod’s support ensured she sought the proper medical treatment. He also encouraged her to call out TV presenter Gregg Wallace, who recently stepped down from MasterChef after a series of allegations about inappropriate behaviour. On social media, Rod branded the host a “tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully” over his dealings with Penny on the celebrity version of the BBC series in 2021, adding, “Good riddance Wallace... You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that bit cut out, didn’t you?”

Addressing the situation on Loose Women, Penny told how Rod gave her the confidence to speak out. “Once you have the backing and support of other people, you feel like you’re going to be listened to,” she said. Over the years, Rod has become increasingly outspoken and has taken on all kinds of issues, including the poor condition of roads near his home. In March 2022, he was filmed filling potholes with a shovel, while wearing a tracksuit and high-vis vest. “

This is the state of the road near where I live in Harlow and it’s been like this for ages,” he wrote on Instagram. In February 2023, the kind-hearted star paid for a day’s worth of MRI scans for patients at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Essex, saying he was “heartbroken” by the struggles of the NHS and that people were “dying because they cannot get scans”.

Born in Highgate, London, in 1945 to Scottish father Robert and English mother Elsie, Rod was the youngest of five children, and once described his childhood as “fantastically happy”. After being given his first guitar at the age of 15, he would regularly go busking to earn cash. He played in several successful bands including the Dimensions and the Faces, but it was as a solo singer that his career really took off, with Maggie May bringing his first No.1 in 1971. Rod has had 10 No.1 albums and 31 Top 10 singles, and in 2019, he became the oldest male to hit the top of the album chart with You’re In My Heart with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

But his life has not always been easy, and he has fought cancer twice. In 2000, he had surgery for thyroid cancer which left him needing to relearn to sing. Then in 2016, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, before being given the all-clear in 2019. His experiences mean he is a passionate campaigner for the City of Hope Foundation, which aims to find a cure for cancer. In 2020, Rod also revealed that he had undergone a knee replacement and ankle fusion surgery after a football injury.

But with an upcoming residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, he’s unlikely to give up his snake-hipped moves on stage. “I don’t see any possibility of slowing down anytime soon,” says Rod, whose latest album Swing Fever with Jools Holland was released last February. “As I get older, I only really want to do things that give me great pleasure.”

When his Glastonbury appearance was announced in November, Rod told how he was “absolutely thrilled” on Instagram, adding, “After all these years, I’m proud and ready and more than able to take the stage again to pleasure and titillate my friends at Glastonbury in June. I’ll see you there!”

However, the flamboyant rocker does recognise that he has had to slow down in recent years, saying in an interview last summer, “I’m not like I was in the 70s and 80s and I can’t stay up all night, get drunk and go mad and still have a voice just like that.”

But he seems to have no worries about the prospect of death, admitting last year, “I’m aware my days are numbered but I’ve got no fear. We have all got to pass on at some point, so we are all in the same basket.” Rod’s relaxed attitude could mean we will see him celebrating his 90th birthday a decade from now. “I am going to enjoy myself for these last few years as much as I can,” he insists. “I say few − probably another 15. I can do that easy mate, easy.” We’re glad to hear it!

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