Rod Stewart Lists Home In ‘Toxic’ Los Angeles For $70 Million To Move Back To England

Jun 12, 2023

Rod Stewart has left an indelible mark in the hearts and minds of millions of people worldwide, continuing to make an impact in the lives of many up until today through his music. But outside his career as an artist, Stewart is known for being a great family man. The father of eight became a grandfather for the first time in 2011 and often speaks about how much family has taken priority over his career. Now, the rockstar has signaled he is ready to give them more of his time by selling his home in Los Angeles, California, and possibly basing himself full-time in the United Kingdom. 

Stewart is among the best-selling music artists of all time. He started his career in 1962, joining Jimmy Powell and The Five Dimensions as the band’s harmonica player and vocalist. Apart from joining different groups throughout his musical career, Stewart also established himself as a soloist. To date, he has released a total of 32 studio albums and seven of those reached No. 1 on the UK album charts.

He is most known for his hits like “Sailing,” “Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” and “You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim),” among many other chart-toppers that eventually became classic hits. For all his achievements over his six-decade career, Stewart’s worth now stands at $300 million.

The rockstar has eight children from five different women and has married three times. He has been wed to his current wife, Penny Lancaster, for almost two decades. They share his two youngest children, aged 17 and 12. After turning 78 in 2023, Stewart revealed he’s looking to cut back on touring. Now, he also will forgo the hassle of traveling between his homes in Los Angeles and Essex to be a more present father and husband.

In June 2023, it was reported Stewart had put his sprawling Los Angeles home in the high-end North Beverly Park area up for sale. The property was commissioned in the early 1990s after Stewart married his second wife, model Rachel Hunter. The estate comprises a 28,500-square-foot English country-style main house and a 4,500-square-foot guest house with a total of 13 bedrooms and 19 bathrooms, as well as three acres of manicured lawns. The property also boasts a gourmet kitchen, a 30-foot waterfall fountain, a massive pool and elevated hot tub, and even a soccer field.

However, despite the opulence and luxury it offers, Stewart is giving it all up for the price of $70 million. According to the Daily Mail, sources close to Stewart said he had grown weary of Los Angeles’ “toxic” culture and felt that he had “zero privacy.” The insiders revealed the family also found traveling back and forth between Los Angeles and the UK – where his wife Lancaster works with the police and their two sons attend school – a “nuisance.”

According to a family friend, Lancaster, who Stewart married in 2007, is enjoying her work as a volunteer police officer in London and “loves the life she has made away from America and away from LA. She enjoys nothing more than working for the police force,” the outlet reported.

“She also finds traveling to be more of a nuisance than anything and wants to just live her life as a working mom,” the family insider added. “Besides, her and Rod's boys are in no way wanting to leave their school and friends in the UK to come over to America,” the source continued. 

Sources said Stewart’s decision to sell the Los Angeles estate and stay in Essex full-time had the blessing of all his older children, who “all know how happy him and Penny are living there and that is all they want is for their father to be happy,” the Daily Mail reported. Since welcoming his first grandchild in 2011, Stewart has also been a doting grandfather.

“Rod is so devoted to his family and is very close with all of them. He is at an amazing place in his life and is elated about being a grandfather to his three grandchildren,” an insider told the outlet.

Stewart, Lancaster and their two sons live in Durrington House, which the couple purchased in 2016 for $5.8 million.

The move will be a change of pace for Stewart, who was born and raised in London. Stewart first moved to the United States back in the 1970s as he was making his breakthrough across the pond. That decision played a big part in Stewart’s success in the US and led to him building a solid fanbase and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Despite the warm welcome, Stewart always kept a special place in his heart for his homeland.

“Rod has always considered Britain to be his home. Los Angeles was everything that he needed it to be for that time in his life, but it is obvious that he does not favor LA anymore. It has just gotten so toxic and he has zero privacy in the city,” a source told Daily Mail. 

Stewart joins the league of stars who have recently opted to relocate from the City of Angels, including actor Mark Wahlberg, who moved to Las Vegas and billionaire Elon Musk, who moved to Texas.

What are your thoughts on Rod Stewart’s decision to put up his Los Angeles home on the market for $70 million? Let us know, and don’t forget to pass this on to all the Rod Stewart fans you know.