Given the toll that years of excess have taken on his crumpled visage, it is not, on first inspection, always easy to read Ronnie Wood’s mood.
After all, even at the best of times, he does bear an uncanny likeness to a strung-out and wizened cockatiel. But there is an unmistakable smile playing on the sparse lips of the famously cadaverous Rolling Stones guitarist these days.
Hardly surprising, given that after two failed marriages, 65-year-old Ronnie is diving headlong into holy matrimony with a beauty almost half his age. He is excitedly making plans for his forthcoming nuptials to his elegant theatre producer girlfriend, Sally Humphreys.
Before popping the question, the ageing rocker asked her father Colin – at 66, just a year older than him – for permission to wed his daughter. It seems the Humphreyses couldn’t be happier with their future son-in-law.
Publicly, there have been only good wishes for the rocker from his brood. Indeed, even Ronnie’s long-suffering ex-wife Jo, whom he dumped four years ago to begin a short-lived fling with a Russian waitress-turned-topless-model, has graciously sent her congratulations. But behind the scenes, it is altogether a different matter. Even as he was announcing his plans to wed 34-year-old Sally, a family rift of epic proportions was opening up.
At least one of his four grown-up children is said to be unhappy about the wedding, not to mention the growing rumours that the couple imminently plan to have a baby. In particular, there is angry sniping about the vexed subject of money. Or, more precisely, the lack of it. Ronnie – thought to be worth at least £20 million – is accused of becoming increasingly niggardly compared to the lavish sums he used to dole out to his pampered offspring.