Penny Lancaster called out Rod Stewart in the early days of their relationship after he was photographed with another woman. In her new memoir, Someone Like Me, the 54-year-old details her first interaction with the rock star, 80, and how their relationship almost ended before it had even started. The couple met in The Dorchester hotel in London back in 1998, around the same time Sir Rod was about to separate from his wife Rachel Hunter. One of her friends had spotted Sir Rod and asked Penny to bag an autograph for her daughter as she was too shy to ask herself. 

“His shirt sparkled, his eyes sparkled. He oozed charisma,” she said. After Sir Rod discovered that she was studying photography, he invited her to take pictures of his upcoming show. Fast forward nine months later, the Maggie May crooner contacted Penny and asked to see the photos. They began dating shortly after. However, when photos emerged of Rod and model Caprice Bourret in a newspaper, she issued a serious message.

In the book, she explains: “On Planet Penny, dating someone exclusively was the norm. In Rod’s universe it seemed to be the exception. My message to him was clear: Don’t bulls**t me.”

Penny followed this up with: “And I won’t bulls**t you.”

The Loose Women star said she doesn’t like being described as the woman who “tamed” Rod, but instead the one who “nurtured” him. 

She added to Daily Mail: “He was used to women who turned a blind eye. But I wanted to be respected and be treated how I treat people.”

As well as divulging details about her marriage to Rod, Penny also bravely opened up about a series of sexual assaults she endured from her childhood through to her teenage years.

At the age of 12, Penny was attacked in an underpass by a man who seized her from behind as she walked alone to school. Despite managing to flee and helping the police in identifying her attacker, the wrong man was arrested, and her assailant was never brought to justice. 

The mum-of-two also revealed that she was sexually assaulted at the start of her modelling career at 17, a secret she has kept until now.

Penny joined a male fashion designer in his home and drank a martini he handed her. Her next memory was waking up on a mattress in his bedroom, Daily Mail reported.

The TV personality said: “I had been drugged. I was lying face down with no underwear on and he was between my legs. I don’t know to this day if I was raped.”