As she discusses potential career scutches, a potential career swerve, and Rod Stewart’s emotional plans, Penny Lancaster offers a fascinating insight into her relationship with rock legend Rod Stewart.
Penny Lancaster is the undisputed queen of reinvention. She began her career as a model in the 90s, later trained as a photographer and, after finding love with rock icon Rod Stewart, embraced her most cherished role yet – motherhood.
She went on to compete in Strictly Come Dancing, has spent a decade guest presenting on Loose Women, and taken on the Celebrity MasterChef kitchen.
Then, after appearing in Channel 4 ’s Famous And Fighting Crime in 2020, Penny qualified as a special constable for the City of London Police. Now, as a new year approaches, the star, 54, is contemplating another professional pivot as she divulges to OK ! her dreams of moving into nature television.
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“I love the idea of doing my own gardening show, maybe even based out of Durrington,” she tells us, referring to Durrington House, the 18th-century Grade II-listed Hertfordshire estate that she and Rod have shared for 12 years. Spread across over 50 acres, the grounds boast a walled garden, a 48sqm greenhouse, formal topiary, a woodland area and eight beehives.
With [our] head gardener, I’m getting more information about various plant varieties. I love being amongst nature. When things get too much, I get a sense of goodness if I spend time outdoors, in a greenery, by a source of water, while birding, in the rain or the sunshine. Although it’s not something I do every day, I do it frequently. Rod and I both do”!
On Sunday, Penny and Rod will give the nation a rare glimpse behind Durrington’s gates as TV host Anita Rani visits their luxurious home for a brand-new series of BBC One’s My Life At Christmas. Together, the couple reflect on their relationship’s biggest chapters, including first meeting at a Christmas party at London’s Dorchester Hotel in December 1998.
At the time, Penny was studying photography while Rod was a globally famous singer, preparing to separate from ex-wife, New Zealand supermodel Rachel Hunter. Nine months after the pair started dating, Rod, a father of six, declared he would never get married or have more children.
Years on, that resolve melted away. He and Penny wed in Portofino, Italy, in 2007, two years after having their first son Alastair, now 19. Fourteen years ago their second boy, Aiden, followed. Now, long after a bumpy start, navigating the pitfalls of a blended family, they operate as one tight unit.
As she contemplates the journey they have taken to date, Rod’s realization that he never imagined he would marry and have children again, and what a gift it is to have found one another and have brought this family so close to one another, makes me cringe.
When she and Rod start talking to OK!, they’ll start decorating Durrington House with holiday decorations. As well as their two sons, Rod’s children Ruby, Liam and three grandchildren, are flying in from LA.
“We’re going ice skating, to the theatre, the races, then there’s local pubs and catching up with Rod’s sister Mary, who’s 97 on Boxing Day,” says Penny, who has arranged all social engagements over the holidays. “Everything’s booked because if it’s done ahead of time, I don’t stress and just let it unfold, like a gift!”
One notable absence, however, will be Rod’s daughter Kimberly, 46, who welcomed her second child in July.
Kimberly isn’t coming, Kimberly. She and her mother reside at home. It’s a very, very new]baby], so she’s going to stay home”, explains Penny, who flew out right after the birth to support her step-daughter. I received a lot of cuddles in the three weeks that followed the birth of Babba!
Penny grins as she recalls the holiday seasons when her own boys were young. “Rod used to dress up as Father Christmas. We would force him to walk slowly before he was even dressed and stuffed with a pillow in his front. If you’re still awake, I’d say to the kids, “Frother Christmas cannot stop at our house.” They’d jump in their beds and not get out until the morning”!
Although Penny hasn’t yet begun the present-shopping task this year, she claims Rod’s gifts always call for an extra boost of inspiration and thoughtfulness, which she perfectly matched a year ago.
“Rod’s got a great respect for veterans and last Christmas, with Rod turning 80 and it being 80 years since the end of the Second World War, I got two metal black silhouette figures of soldiers with metal poppies and placed them in the garden. On Christmas morning, we took the dogs out for a walk in the garden and he saw his gift nestled out in the fields. He always says, ‘How do you always find the right thing?!’”
Describing her husband as “a true romantic”, Penny reveals that the singer is a connoisseur of surprises too. He bought her a narrowboat for her 50th birthday during lockdown after she fell in love with canal boats on daily river walks.
However, her adventures on Bluebell have recently been hampered by health issues. “I’ve neglected her a bit as last year I tore the meniscus in my knee and I’ve injured my Achilles doing a]police] fitness test”, she says.
My right Achilles began to hurt sharply about halfway through. Because of the adrenaline, I kept going instead of stopping, and now it’s swollen and limping. It’s really frustrating. While I recover, I’m thinking about volunteering at organizations like The Felix Project, a food distribution organization.
It’s here that the chat darts to another professional possibility – training to be a psychotherapist.
“I know it would help with policing, because we often have a mental health nurse come out when we’re dealing with someone with mental health issue,” she says, noting that penning her autobiography Someone Like Me , which was published in September, was “a little bit” like going through the therapy process.
Another milestone, Penny’s 55th birthday in March, is on the horizon, and it’s even more exciting. Are any plans in the making? “No ! I’m always considering how to celebrate [other people’s birthdays]. I was so looking forward to my 50th birthday and was going to make it a big one, then it was lockdown, so nothing happened. But I overcame it. It worked out perfectly.”
Rod, loitering in the background during our interview, finds himself drawn into the discussion. Do you want to make plans for my 55th birthday, Dear Darling? She asks and smiles as he responds. “He said, ‘ Yeah, simple. ‘ So there you have it. He’s a last-minute, spontaneous [guy] guy. He’ll probably go, ‘ Pack your bags. I’m taking you somewhere. He’s last-minute, and I like to plan ahead. So it’s a good combo.
After 25 years together, Penny and Rod are undisputedly a united force and with Rod touring Europe until just before Christmas, then again in the New Year, it begs the question: does being frequently apart keep them together?
” We can all take things for granted as time goes by and]absence] allows you a little bit of space to reflect, to start missing someone again and remember why it’s so important to have snuggles on the couch together or coffee mornings after the drop-off, “agrees Penny”. It’s about developing small habits, finding small moments, and maintaining communication. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘
Penny also opens up on what she finds most sexy about her other half – his sense of humour. He takes himself too seriously. He also dresses in such a beautiful way that I can’t help but feel proud of my appearance. We dress for each other. Additionally, he lacks any laziness in his body. THAT is “sexy”!
With a 26-year age gap and Rod now approaching 81, mortality is a conversation the couple don’t swerve. In My Life At Christmas , viewers will see Rod pointing out a cream-columned temple in the garden at Durrington where he intends to be laid to rest. The poignant moment offers insight into the practical mindset of a man who Penny insists “has no plans to retire”.
She explains: “You don’t want to talk about the end, but he’s like, ‘ Look, it happens to all of us. ‘” He consistently states, “I’ve had the best life ever, and I wouldn’t have complaints if it ended tomorrow.” However, his sister passed away this year. Why wouldn’t he go to 100? ‘ ” “
As Rod himself says in the BBC One programme, “Like the Duke of Edinburgh, I like to plan ahead. So this little house is where I’m going to be laid to rest, hopefully. It’s my special place. Penny hates me to talk about it but we all have to die.”
An idea strikes Penny as she discovers that their dog Bubbles is buried in the gardens. She smiles in the property deed, which is required if there is a family cemetery. You buy the property, you have to maintain the cemetery of the Stewarts! “
