Did You Know Rod Stewart Placed a Child for Adoption?

Rod Stewart has been a household name for decades. The British music icon has sold more than 120 million records worldwide, earning him the title as one of the best-selling artists of all time. This Rock n’ Roll Hall of Famer – in the U.K. and U.S. – is now 80 years old, but he continues to leave his mark on pop culture, with a Las Vegas residency, an ongoing world tour, and a recent swing album for fans around the globe. The story that some music fans may be less familiar with, however, is the Rod Stewart adoption story.

“It’s a Heartache”

Sir Roderick David Stewart has eight children. His first child, Sarah Streeter, was born in 1963 when Rod was just a teenager. He met Sarah’s birth mother, Susannah Hourde, an art student at the time, at a political demonstration. The two dated for just over a year. While the romance did not last, it did result in an unplanned pregnancy.

According to the Daily Mail, Stewart has said that he wanted to place the baby for adoption immediately. He knew that he and Susannah could not raise a child. After struggling to care for the child on her own for several months, Susannah eventually decided adoption was the best decision for the child.

“She was put up for adoption when I was 17 or 18, I think,” Steward recalled on the Joy Behar Show. “I was absolutely stone broke,” he said.

After some time in foster care and various children’s homes, Sarah was adopted at the age of five by Gerald and Evelyn Thubron.

Sarah grew up in a countryside home in Sussex, England – worlds away from her glamorous rock star father in Los Angeles. For most of her childhood, Sarah did not know she had a famous birth father. When she turned 18, her adoptive parents revealed his identity to their daughter.

The news came as a shock to Sarah.

“It really didn’t sink in to start with,” she recalled. “This was the early 80s and Rod was already very famous. He was always in the charts. I remember saying for days afterwards: ‘There must be hundreds of Rod Stewarts, are you sure it’s THE Rod Stewart?’

“That was quite a thing to come to terms with. I had a poster of him on my wall because I thought he was sexy, and then suddenly I find out he’s my father.”

“I Don’t Want to Talk About It”

While they met a few times in the 1980s, they did not build a strong relationship.

“Remember, he had seen me as a baby at the ­hospital when I was born, and then, suddenly, all these years later, he’s ­presented with this ­grown-up ­daughter,” Sarah said of their first reunion. “And I was very young, very naïve. In many ways I wasn’t emotionally ready.”

In 2007, however, that began to change. Rod reconnected with his first-born daughter, following the death of Sarah’s adoptive mother.

“Now [that] I’m getting to know him more I think I understand what went on,” Sarah recalled in a 2010 interview. “Rod has actually come into my life in a big way since mother’s gone, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Now we’re at the start of a new chapter, and that’s wonderful.”

“Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?”

Rod and Sarah began building their relationship over phone calls and, eventually, family get-togethers. Sarah slowly met the rest of her extended family, including her seven half-siblings.

“It’s all water under the bridge now,” Sarah said at the time. “It’s nerve-racking, too, but just as much so for him as it is for me.

“There’s no anger there,” she continued. “I never was angry about what happened really, just sad. But now I’m older I see things differently and realize that it has been as difficult for him over the years as it has been for me.”

Now, Sarah is happy to be a part of two families instead of one.

“For a while, he didn’t really talk about me but now, he talks about his seven children and an eighth on the way, not the six, and that’s lovely,” she recalled. “Finally, it’s all turned out the way I wanted it to, and it couldn’t be better.”

Learn More About Adoption

Adoption Search and Reunions

Search and reunions can be complex and emotional. Birth parents and their children can have expectations that do not meet reality, and the disappointment that follows can be devastating. When trying to reconnect with a birth parent or child, it is helpful to use an adoption agency or genealogical investigator. This professional can help ensure the right match is made and the meeting is guided.

Open adoptions offer the advantage of keeping birth and adoptive families connected over the years. While this type of adoption plan does not work for everyone, it is the most common type of adoption plan today. When Sarah was placed for adoption in the 1960s, most adoptions were closed and rarely discussed. Today, adoption is less taboo, and more people are becoming open and honest about their adoption circumstances.

Learn More About Adoption

Like Rod Stewart, are you considering adoption for your child? Or are you planning to adopt? Contact Adoptions With Love today for support. We can guide you every step of the way. Call 800-722-7731, text (confidentially) 617-777-0072, or contact us online. We can help you through the adoption journey with respect, support, and love.