The one thing that has become abundantly clear from reading Rod Stewart’s riotous autobiography is that despite the ludicrous tartan trews, big nose and wild lifestyle, an awful lot of women have found him utterly irresistible.
Stewart courted them, adored them and did everything he could to prove to them that he thought they were special. He pursued them across continents, filled their hotel rooms with flowers, and fell head over heels in love with them.
The only problem was, he constantly betrayed them with other women.
Yet the truth is that many men could learn lessons from Stewart when it comes to making women happy.
The reason so many of us find him appealing is not just the fact he’s rich (though, of course, that helps).
No, I suspect that even if Rod Stewart had grown up to be a plumber like his father, he’d never have been short of gorgeous girlfriends.
Why? Because for all his faults, he’s a romantic who genuinely loves women — and he’s never been afraid to show it.
Men are always complaining that they don’t understand us and don’t know what we want. They think we’re contradictory, confusing and impossible to please.
We’re not. We’re simply fed up with being patronised and ignored. And what the Rod Stewarts of this world understand is that women will put up with an awful lot from men as long as we feel adored.
In fact, the reason women idolise Stewart is the same reason why they prefer Boris Johnson to David Cameron and Bill Clinton to George Bush.
Yes, Boris and Bill are rackety, self-obsessed and selfish individuals on whom it would be unwise to rely in a crisis and who have little concept of fidelity.
But what they both have in common is humour, self-deprecation and, above all, passion. When Boris Johnson talks to you, says a female friend who used to work with him, he focuses on you completely.
Unlike most politicians, he won’t look over your shoulder, scanning the room for someone more important to talk to. And unlike many men in important positions, he’s not afraid to tell you what he’s feeling or to ask your advice.
Another friend who once met Bill Clinton found herself unexpectedly mesmerised. “He made me feel I was the only person who mattered, in a room of about a thousand other people,” she said afterwards, still starry-eyed.
“I would have done anything he wanted me to — literally anything.”
As a general rule, we don’t want to marry a Stewart or a Johnson or a Clinton. They are bad boys who tend to make bad husbands. But what a revelation it would be if our men could learn from them how to focus on us properly, even if only for a few hours a week, and how to make us laugh.
Who knows — if only our men could find their inner Rod Stewart, we might in turn discover we want to unleash our inner Britt Ekland.
— Daily Mail
