Having been able to focus on his health due to the pandemic, the 'Maggie May' singer gushes that he has gotten a second lease of life after undergoing a right knee replacement.
- Nov 22, 2021
AceShowbiz - Rod Stewart has found a new lease of life after undergoing knee surgery during the COVID lockdown and no longer needs pain pills to help him perform.
The pandemic allowed the "Maggie May" singer to take time away from the stages and studios and focus on his health - and that included a right knee replacement, which had been a big problem for six years.
"I'm very sprightly now. It's the best thing I ever did," he tells the BBC. "Oh God, it was like I was in my 20s. Just unbelievable."
"Before, I had trouble running because of the pain of the bone (grinding). It was only the adrenaline that was getting me through shows - and some anti-inflammatories. Now I don't need any pills whatsoever. It's just a second lease of life."
And that means he has no plans to follow pal Elton John's lead and announce a farewell tour any time soon. "I don't do farewell tours!" he laughs.
But he would like to take more time off and travel, adding, "There are countries I'd like to go to - North Africa, Libya, Egypt. I'd like to see that part of the world... I'm a World War Two fanatic because I was born in 1945 - when it was just over - and I'd hear such wonderful stories from my brothers and my mum and dad and my sister. So I'd like to go to El-Alamein, Casablanca, places like that."
On his knee problem, Rod previously spilled to Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper, "First of all it was my knee as I played football all my life. I am suffering for it now. My knee got fixed with a replacement and then the ankle did not know what was going on."
"It was crooked. So I have had to have an ankle fusion. So when this is all done I should have a nice straight leg and I should be able to run," he went on explaining. "My leg has been caused by playing on awful pitches in Los Angeles. They are bone dry."
