Rod Stewart’s prostate cancer diagnosis in 2017 has been widely documented, but at the time he wanted to keep it all top secret. After a routine appointment, it was discovered that he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer, but the famous rocker had stated that he didn’t want anybody to know at first. He told Penny that he wanted to figure out what he was dealing with. 

The wait for the results, Penny said in her new book Someone Like Me, was “excruciating”. However, Rod had focused on the future and was planning his next tour while he was sat in the recovery room after treatment. 

Meanwhile, Penny was silently struggling, adding that the secrecy was a challenge and she had to cut off her support network until they were further down the line. In her book, she said it was an “agonising wait”. Shortly after, she had an appearance on Loose Women in which she unexpectedly opened up on her sexual harassment she had experienced, which she believes then opened the floodgates to everything she had been feeling.

After that day, she said she felt incredibly supported, but the days that followed became a real challenge. 

Penny said: “I felt incredibly low, and my depression spiralled further, and I realised that to be strong for both myself and Rod, I might need some help too.” 

She explained that her GP discussed putting her on anti-depressants, but she felt that she would be “weak” if she took them. Penny said: “Silly, when I look back now. But I did need to get over this bump, to feel more able to tackle life head-on.” So she took them. 

They helped her “a lot”, with Penny referring to them as the safety raft she needed until she could get back to shore. 

She also began talking to a therapist, which she welcomed, as she couldn’t talk to anybody else about what was going through her mind. Penny added: “As I sat in the therapist’s room, I sobbed solidly for three hours. It’s as if a valve had been released. 

“I did speak about my fears about losing Rod, about my boys losing their dad. But what also tumbled from my mouth was a bewildering mix of past trauma, triggered I believe, by the Loose Women discussion.” 

While she didn’t go back after that, Penny said the timing didn’t feel right, and the skeletons needed to be “shut away for a while longer” while dealing with Rod’s diagnosis. 

In July 2019 Rod got the all clear after his cancer diagnosis.