FINDING HER PLACE

As she publishes her memoir, Penny Lancaster opens up about 'date coffees' with Sir Rod Stewart, creating a happy blended family and finding happiness after challenging times

- INTERVIEW: LAURA BENJAMIN

Surrounded by the golden sands and gentle waves of Malibu beach, Penny Lancaster is in her element.

Walking barefoot as she takes in the beautiful coastline of southern California, this TV personality, mother and rock star’s wife is the picture of contentment.

“I always feel totally at home and relaxed in Malibu,” she tells us in this exclusive interview and photoshoot. “It is so serene and relaxing, and there is a very calm energy.”

As she publishes her long-awaited autobiography, Someone Like Me, the Essex-born photographer and former model is in a great place in her life. Blissfully happy with her husband of 18 years, music icon Sir Rod Stewart, and their sons, Alastair, 19, and Aiden, 14, she adores her volunteer work as a special constable and the time she spends with the women for whom she advocates.

Penny’s contentment is clear as she talks to HELLO!, although she has had to endure a rollercoaster ride to get to this happy place, as she explains in her memoir. “I wanted to get across the message that no matter where you are in life – we all have a sense of where we'd like to be – that path is never AZ,” she says.

“It’s never a straight line. We're always going to deviate and there are always going to be bumps in the road. I am an honest person and I wear my heart on my sleeve; if my journey has helped me, maybe it could help others.”

ROAD TO SUCCESS

That journey includes meeting and marrying Rod despite a couple of false starts, establishing a career as a photographer and in TV, welcoming her beloved boys and battling symptoms of menopause that affected her mental health.

Penny, 54, is also still dealing with the aftereffects of two sexual assaults she suffered when she was younger, and has learnt to navigate the dyslexia she has struggled with since she was a schoolgirl.