Rod Stewart thrilled by daughter reconciliation

Rod Stewart is overjoyed his oldest child has begun calling him 'Dad'.

The 68-year-old rocker - who has eight children with five women - was just 18 when his former girlfriend Sue Boffey fell pregnant so they gave the little girl, now known as Sarah Streeter, up for adoption.

Sarah got in touch with the rocker in 2008 following the death of her adoptive mother and Rod is delighted by the bond they have formed since.

Explaining how 'Brighton Beach', a song on his new album 'Time', is dedicated to Sarah and Sue, Rod said: 'It's about a real girl who broke my heart, my first love affair, her name was Sue Boffey and she was the mother of my first child, who was adopted, because we didn't have a pot to p**s in.

'It was a real blot on your character to get a girl pregnant in those days.

'Sarah doesn't know about the song yet, but she'll love it.

'We've just began to call each other 'father and daughter', which was hard because I didn't change nappies or take her to school, or help her do her ­homework.'

However, Rod is no longer in touch with Sue.

He added to The Independent newspaper: 'Her mum doesn't want much to do with us, unfortunately.'

Rod has been married to Penny Lancaster - the mother of his youngest sons, Alistair, seven, and Aiden, two - since 2007 and he describes the breakdown of his two previous marriages, to Alana Hamilton and Rachel Hunter, as the 'ruination' of him, and finds it particularly hard to think of the impact divorce has on children.

Discussing 'It's Over', a track about his failed marriages, Rod said: 'Divorce is the ruination of man.

'I know a little about the devastation it causes. It's the heartbreak for the kids that does me in.'