Sources: Stones' Wood left wife for teen

Published: July 12, 2008 at 5:59 PM
The South Bank Show Awards  in London

LONDON, July 12 (UPI) -- Sixty-one-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood is drinking heavily and has left his wife for an 18-year-old Russian woman, sources say.

An unidentified friend of cocktail waitress Ekaterina Ivanova said the British rocker became so enamored with the teenager he decided to leave Jo Wood, his wife of 23 years, and his four children, the Daily Mail reported Friday.

"She is besotted with Ronnie. Whether or not he knows it, she plans a future with him," the friend said. "She has told everyone Ronnie has left his wife for her and they are a full-on item."

The New York Daily News said Jo Wood has denied the allegations and said the pair is simply on a painting trip.

"I was quite alright that she was hanging around with him," she was quoted as saying. "Ronnie told me she was staying there and I said, 'OK -- get on with it and have a drink, go mad. Drink your guts up.'"

Wood admitted in 2000 that he is an alcoholic. His publicist called Wood's teen companion a "drinking partner."

"He met her in a dodgy escort bar at four in the morning when he was boozed out of his mind," the unnamed publicist told the Daily News.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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