Rod Stewart’s eldest daughter, Sarah Streeter, has revealed the heartbreaking truth behind her troubled past—decades after the music legend gave her up for adoption as a teenager.
In 1963, Rod and his then-girlfriend Susannah Boffey welcomed baby Sarah when they were just teens. Too young and broke to raise a child, they made the painful decision to put her up for adoption. Sarah was raised in Sussex by Evelyn and Gerald Thubron, completely unaware of her biological father’s fame.
“It was a profound shock when I found out,” Sarah later admitted.
Although she met Rod a few times in her twenties, their relationship faded until 2007—only after the death of her adoptive parents—when she began a gradual reconnection with the rock icon.
During a candid 2018 interview with MailOnline, Sarah confessed to a long battle with drug and alcohol addiction, saying, “I was a serial abuser of cocaine and alcohol in my early 30s.” She even became addicted to crack cocaine after relapsing when her adoptive mother died. At her lowest, she was drinking vodka for breakfast.
Rod’s son Sean, from his marriage to Alannah Stewart, has also faced substance abuse problems.
“I carry a huge amount of guilt about what I put people through,” Sarah said. “But I’ve chosen to talk about it because I think it’s important to show that even if you hit rock-bottom, you can get over it.”
Rod, who spoke about their complex bond on The Joy Behar Show and in a 2011 Piers Morgan interview, admitted: “I never felt like I was her dad… but I’m trying.” He added, “She had a big chip on her shoulder, which I can’t blame her for. But now we’ve become somewhat close.”
Today, Sarah is clean, works as a carer, and is fully embraced by the Stewart clan. From the shadows of addiction and estrangement, she and Rod have found a fragile but growing bond built on honesty, healing—and hope.
