Penny Lancaster Opens Up About Rod Stewart’s Cancer Battle and Her Own Silent Struggles

Published: 25 September 2025. The English Chronicle Desk

Penny Lancaster, the television personality, former model, and wife of legendary British rocker Sir Rod Stewart, has shared deeply personal revelations about the harrowing period when her husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer and the toll it quietly took on her own mental health. In her newly released memoir Someone Like Me, Penny revisits those years with a raw honesty that sheds light not only on Rod Stewart’s health crisis but also on her private battle with depression, trauma, and resilience.

Rod Stewart’s prostate cancer diagnosis dates back to 2017, when what seemed like a routine medical appointment revealed something much darker. Tests confirmed that the music icon was facing an aggressive form of prostate cancer. For Stewart, who has built his public persona around strength, charm, and flamboyant stage energy, the decision was swift—he did not want the world to know. According to Penny, her husband insisted that the news remain a closely guarded secret until he fully understood what he was dealing with. This decision, though understandable, meant that she too had to carry the weight of silence.

Lancaster describes the period as an “excruciating wait.” She recalls the long hours of uncertainty, waiting for results, while her husband’s mind seemed fixated on the future. Even while recovering from treatment, Stewart was already sketching out ideas for his next tour. The juxtaposition of his forward-looking optimism and her private fears created a tension that Lancaster struggled to reconcile. She writes candidly of having to shut herself off from her usual support networks because Rod had made it clear he wanted privacy. That secrecy became its own burden.

In her book, Lancaster explains how the pressure of silence eventually collided with other parts of her life. During an appearance on ITV’s daytime panel show Loose Women, she unexpectedly found herself opening up about past sexual harassment she had endured. This unplanned disclosure, she reflects, was the breaking point—once she gave voice to one long-buried pain, everything else she had been suppressing seemed to pour out. She describes this as “opening the floodgates,” a moment when she could no longer contain the weight of what she had been feeling.

The days that followed, however, were some of her darkest. Penny admits that she began to spiral into depression. She confesses that she found it difficult to summon the strength she needed both for herself and for Rod. “I felt incredibly low, and my depression spiralled further,” she writes, adding that she eventually came to realise she needed help. Her doctor suggested anti-depressants, a recommendation she initially resisted. At the time, Lancaster admits, she viewed taking medication as a weakness. “Silly, when I look back now,” she reflects, acknowledging that she needed a way to stabilise herself so that she could cope with the challenges ahead.

Eventually, she agreed to treatment, and she now credits the decision with helping her regain balance during one of the most difficult chapters of her life. She describes the medication as “the safety raft” that kept her afloat until she could once again reach the shore of normal life. In those intimate discussions with her GP, she revealed not only her fears of losing Rod and the devastating impact it would have on their sons, but also layers of unresolved trauma that resurfaced in the wake of her public revelations on Loose Women.

Despite opening those doors, Lancaster admits she did not continue with therapy at the time. She felt that the timing was not right and that some memories needed to remain shut away as she and her husband navigated his illness. That tension—between the need to heal and the need to cope—defined much of her personal battle.

For Rod Stewart, the story ultimately took a hopeful turn. In July 2019, two years after his initial diagnosis, doctors declared him cancer-free. Stewart later chose to go public with his experience, encouraging other men to take prostate health seriously and to undergo regular checks. His survival story has since become one of perseverance and medical success, though Lancaster’s memoir reminds readers that behind every such story lies a family’s hidden struggle.

Lancaster’s revelations underline an often-overlooked reality: that when one partner in a relationship faces illness, the other becomes an unsung survivor in their own right. Her account speaks not only to the fear of losing a loved one but also to the quiet isolation, the pressure of secrecy, and the personal demons that health crises can unearth.

In writing Someone Like Me, Penny Lancaster has laid bare her vulnerabilities in the hope that others may feel less alone in similar struggles. Her reflections are not simply about the pain of her husband’s illness but about resilience, the importance of seeking help, and the courage to speak openly about mental health.

As she candidly observes, her reluctance to take medication now feels misplaced, but acknowledging that mistake has allowed her to appreciate the strength it took to confront her struggles head-on. Today, with Rod Stewart in good health and her own story finally told, Lancaster emerges not only as the devoted wife who stood by her husband through a devastating diagnosis but also as a voice for those who quietly endure their own battles in the shadows.