Insiders claim there is nothing 'sinister or suspicious' over rumours Rod Stewart and wife Penny Lancaster are looking to sell £53million Beverly Hills mansion
Sir Rod Stewart has declared he ‘could not be more in love’ with his wife Penny Lancaster amid claims the pair had reached a ‘stalemate’ over their living arrangements.
The veteran rocker, 79, reportedly promised his 53-year-old wife that they would sell their Los Angeles mansion and return full-time to their Grade II-listed home in Essex.
But Sir Rod is said to have changed his mind and taken the £53million Beverly Hills home off the market.
Responding on Instagram to his 1.4million followers, Sir Rod said: ‘There is absolutely no rift between Penny and I on where we should reside, in fact it’s the opposite...
‘We could not be more in love with each other after 27 glorious years. Please trust me on this, there is no disharmony in our marriage.’
Sir Rod Stewart has said he 'couldn't be more in love' with wife Penny Lancaster, despite reportedly changing his mind on selling their Los Angeles mansion
The singer had reportedly promised his wife that they could sell their £53million home in Beverly Hills (pictured) and move permanently to their house in Essex
He signed the statement: ‘Rod “a very lucky man” Stewart.’
It had been reported that the couple had been at a ‘stalemate’, with Sir Rod refusing to leave Los Angeles and Ms Lancaster refusing to stay after he extended his Las Vegas residency.
Ms Lancaster was said to be ‘furious’ because her life is focused in Britain as a part-time panellist on ITV’s Loose Women and her work as a special constable for City of London Police.
But the Faces frontman said: ‘Originally we did think it made sense to sell our house in LA, but having spent a wonderful time there this summer with family and friends during my Vegas residency we realised that it makes sense to keep our house there. Two of my eldest children still live in Celtic House (the LA residence).’
Sir Rod splits his time between the US and the UK for work, with his wife occasionally joining him.
Sources close to Ms Lancaster told the Mail: ‘There is nothing sinister or suspicious about this whatsoever. People decide to take their houses on and off the market for all kinds of reasons.’
The couple, who have two sons, Alastair, 18, and Aiden, 13, have been married for 17 years.
In 2017, Ms Lancaster gave her insight into long-distance relationships and revealed how she and Sir Rod, whose hits include Maggie May, Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? and Sailing, had once vowed never to spend too much time apart.
She said: ‘He is still working hard, he is not going to retire anytime soon. For the first year of our relationship, he was in America and I was in the UK. I was still studying at college, so we had that separation.
‘I thought if this is going to work then this is going to make a very strong foundation and it will give us better leverage for later on.
‘But nowadays with the kids still at school and Rod at work, we’ve made a pact to not spend any longer than 10 days apart. The longest we spent apart was two weeks and we were like Sir Rod and Ms Lancaster first started dating in 1999, when she was 28 and he was 54.’
She revealed how they met after she was ‘dared’ by a friend to go up and ask for the singer’s autograph at a gig.
Sir Rod on stage at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm in June
Ms Lancaster revealed in 2017 that she met Sir Rod when she asked for the singer's autograph during a gig
‘The next day I got an invitation to go and photograph him at a concert because I was at college at the time,’ she said.
Sir Rod explained: ‘I got her phone number and I gave it to my bass player, but he kept it for six months. I’d just gone through a break-up and he said I wasn’t ready yet.
‘I did call her six months later.’
Sir Rod separated from his previous wife Rachel Hunter in 1999 and divorced in 2006. He had previously been married to Alana Stewart.
He has eight children by five women – Sarah, 59, Kimberly, 43, Ruby, 35, Renee, 30, Sean, 42, and Liam, 28, and Alastair and Aiden.
It comes after the singer cancelled two dates in the North American leg of his tour this month and an August 7 gig for his Las Vegas residency, which would have been the 200th show, due to a bout of the bacterial infection strep throat.
