Penny Lancaster became emotional after Rod Stewart revealed heartfelt details of their 26 year love story during a BBC festive documentary presented by Anita Rani
13:43, 07 Dec 2025Updated 14:33, 07 Dec 2025
Penny Lancaster breaks down in tears as Rod Stewart make huge revelation(Image: BBC)
Penny Lancaster broke down in tears as she learned a secret about how one of Rod Stewart’s friends tried to prevent them from dating – for a moving reason.
Rocker Rod revealed to his wife that a close friend withheld her phone number from him until he felt he was ‘fully healed’, following his bitter divorce from model Rachel Hunter. Rod has said his second wife Rachel’s decision to leave him had left him in physical pain and he finally knew what it meant to have a broken heart.
Rod and Penny, who have been together for more than two decades and share two children together, first met when Penny, 54, was a student at Barking College and he was performing.
In the aftermath of Rod’s split from Rachel, the singer, 80, met Penny but his close friend at the time, Carmine Appice thought Rod was not in an emotionally healthy place to be dating again – and so didn’t pass on her number.
The revelation was made during the first episode of Anita Rani’s My Life At Christmas for the BBC. Recalling the story with Penny sat beside him, Rod told Anita: “He was an absolute gentleman, he was band leader and bass player and he kept her telephone away from me.”
He continued: “He didn’t think I was in the right position because I had just got a divorce and didn’t know if I was coming or going and he said I will give it to you when I think you are ready.”
Penny Lancaster and Rod Stewart have been together for more than twenty years(Image: BBC)
He jokingly added: “I should have fired him but I couldn’t!” And it was at this point in the clip that Penny started to become emotional as she said: “Carmine had kept that telephone number away from him. He said ‘You are going to go a bit crazy over the summer and let your hair down and Penny seems like a nice girl.'”
Believing that she was not going to see the legendary singer again, she continued: “I really thought that was the last I would see of Rod. I remember processing those photos I took of Rod [at his concert] and thinking, ‘what a lovely memory’ and that was that.”
Rod Stewart met his second wife Rachel Hunter in a night club in 1990 and popped the question just three weeks later(Image: Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Rod’s ex wife Rachel Hunter replaced Penny as the face of Ultimo in 2004(Image: PA/Ultimo)
But Rod finally made the leap himself and contacted Penny and their relationship has since gone from strength to strength. The couple welcomed their first son together in 2005. Two years later, the pair tied the knot in a lavish ceremony before the arrival of their second son in 2011. But it seems they had to carefully navigate their way around Rod’s other children from previous marriages and relationships.
Penny candidly described what it was like entering into an already blended family. She explained: “I tiptoed very lightly. Because there were lots of personalities, and more important there were children ranging from all ages. From Liam who was five when we first met through to teenagers to Kimberly who was just about to turn 21 so it was delicate and they were children from different mothers.”
She went on to add: ” It was a scenario I had never faced before and I thought I need to stay in the background but be present and there if they want to approach me. I just wanted to take my time and it took a long time,’ attempting to hold back her sobs she continued, ‘but we got there and we have got to a place that I never thought I would get to with them.”
Penny Lancaster and Rod Stewart have been together for more than twenty years(Image: BBC)
Rod then chimed in and said: “I must admit the kids adore her now, they look for her for advice.”
Rachel Hunter was Rod’s second wife. Model Rachel was just 21-years-old when she met the Maggie May singer and despite their 24-year age gap, they married and had two kids – Renee and Liam.
The pair stayed married until 1999 when Rachel walked away, stating she’d “lost her identity.” She later admitted: “I’ll take to the grave the pain I caused Rod. I hurt the one person I loved and cared about.” Rod did not take the break up well, saying: “I took to lying on the sofa in the day, with a blanket over me and a hot water bottle against my chest. I knew then why they call it heartbroken. You can feel it in your heart.”
Rod said his split from Rachel was physically painful(Image: Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Penny’s tears didn’t end there as the interview swiftly moved on to when they met the Pope in 2018. They had won the chance to meet Pope Francis on the back of a charity bid. Penny said: “As the Pope Francis came along the eye contact that we got was very powerful.
He spent quite a time with us and he placed both our hands on top of each other and placed his hand on top of ours.” Anita asked what that moment mean to her, to which Penny said: “It sort of cemented all the wishes that Rod and I had for one another. “
She added: “All those sort of prayers that we had had quietly. He gave us two rosary beads too and he blessed us as well and it made us feel like… it was all our destiny.”
But it wasn’t just Penny who found the interview emotional, as Rod also shed a tear when asked the secret to a 25 year relationship.
Through tears he said: “I think the age difference, there are downsides to it, but there is a maturity I may have taught Penny and there is an honesty she has taught me. We do not argue before we go to bed and we do not argue after a glass of wine and if we do have arguments it is over real quick. “
He continued: “I try to teach my kids, all of them, that real men say sorry, that’s what they do. There is a wonderful honestly between us and long may it last.”
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