On the 2026 season of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Australia, viewers were surprised and delighted to see international supermodel Rachel Hunter strut into the South African jungle.
Once settled in at camp, the New Zealand model and actress shared some of her backstory, including her marriage to Rod Stewart. And in the second episode, she shared even more of their relationship. See the video above and below, courtesy of Channel 10.
In May 1993, Rachel was the cover star of The Australian Women’s Weekly with an exclusive story on how she “tamed” Rod Stewart. Scroll down to read the full feature below.
Originally from Glenfield, in Auckland, New Zealand, Rachel at first wanted to be a ballet dancer, but an illness in her youth caused her to switch gears. She then went on to start her modelling career at just 16 years of age, in France, Australia, and New Zealand. She went on to have a prolific modelling career, featured in Australian and Italian Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Australian Cosmopolitan, Sports Illustrated, the US version of Elle, and Playboy Magazine. And of course, The Australian Women’s Weekly!
I’m a Celebrity isn’t her first foray into reality television; she has been a judge on New Zealand’s Got Talent from 2012 to 2013. She also hosted her own travelling TV show, Rachel Hunter’s Tour of Beauty, where she travelled the world to discover what beauty meant in different places.
She met Rod Stewart, 24 years her senior, when she was 21 years old in Los Angeles. After a whirlwind romance, the two married just three months later on 15 December 1990. They have two children, Renée (born in 1992) and Liam (born in 1994). She also became a grandmother to Liam’s first child, Louie Mark Roderick Stewart, in May 2023.
However, the two separated in January 1999 after eight years, and their divorce was finalised in November 2009.
Prior to her relationship with Rod Stewart, Rachel dated rock musician Kip Winger in the late 1980s. After Rod Rachel went on to have a relationship with Canadian NHL hockey player Jarret Stoll, who mentored her son Liam in the sport. Jarret proposed to Rachel in 2008, but the wedding was called off just seven weeks before their wedding day in 2009.
Rachel isn’t dating anyone publicly in 2026; however, she may reveal a relationship in this season of I’m a Celebrity...
Read on for our EXCLUSIVE conversation with Rachel Hunter in the May 1993 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
EXCLUSIVE: Rachel Hunter: How I tamed Rod Stewart
Top model Tachel Hunter takes time out from her busy schedule to talk frankly about her life with Rod Stewart, the joys of motherhood and the truth behind those vicious rumours that have dogged the couple since their marriage.
Rachel Hunter begged a moment’s break. Just need to use the phone,” she said. It was mid-morning in smoggy Los Angeles, and we were in a photographic studio on La Cienega — on the edge of Beverly Hills.
“How’s my little scallywag, then?” we heard Rachel ask. “Is she being good?”
The “scallywag” in question is her 11-month-old daughter, Renee. The conversation continued – something about buying soya milk, the need for new nappies, and whether or not the baby seat would fit in the back of the Ferrari.
Rache Hunter — model, jet-setter, trendsetter, and wife of pop star Rod Stewart – is no different, she insisted, from the rest of us.
“But don’t worry, I know I’m a pretty lucky person,” she said, back in the studio, having sorted out life on her domestic front.
We were in the middle of an exclusive photoshoot for The Weekly. Rachel, her legs impossibly long, her skin incredibly smooth, and her hair looking just plain sumptuous, had arrived in a black Ferrari, which even in over-indulgent Hollywood is something of a status symbol.
Lucky? Definiteily. Spoiled? No. Rachel Hunter is a supremely practical young woman, confident and assured, but not at all arrogant or pretentious.
“I am one of those people who was born with responsibility in their genes,” she said. ” I’ve always been the type to run around checking everything is locked before going out.”
In her marriage to Rod Stewart, she is the one who keeps things organised and running smoothly… the one who doesn’t mind telling him off if he hasn’t done something he’s supposed to do.
“If Rod and I split tomorrow, I wouldn’t take a penny, and I know I’d be able to survive. I can take care of myself. All I’d worry about is that Renee gets looked after, and there’s no doubt about that. Rod would always look after his kids; he always has.”
Rod has three other children besides little Renee: Kimberley and Sean from his first marriage to Alana Hamilton, and Ruby from his relationship with Kelly Emberg.
Rachel hoisted herself back on the stool in front of the backdrop, ready for more photos, her head thrown back so her hair could catch the breeze from a fan. In front of the camera, Rachel becomes another being – slick and professional, astute about what will work or her and what won’t. She pushed us all on, working harder and faster.
“If I have a point,” she said, while the photographer changed a roll of film, “I’m not afraid to put it across. But I’m not as aggressive as I used to be. Having a baby puts life into perspective. If I’m in a bad mood, all I have to do is look at that little smiling face, and I know I’m behaving stupidly. She calms me down, my baby. I don’t jump on people so much anymore. It’s rather nice… being calmer.”
It was just days after Rod’s huge settlement with former live-in lover Kelly Emberg.
“Rod never feels sorry for himself. He reckons so many good things have happened to him, they far outweigh the bad. He’s like that. He sees the good stuff and doesn’t dwell on the negative.”
Her husnad, she said, is a great father. “He sees all his kids regularly, and he’s superb with Renee. He plays the best games with her. Really inventive, and she adores him.”
Rachel has taken her own position with Rod’s other children.
“I’m not their mother, and I don’t get involved. They sort out their own problems, but I’m always here for them. It’s tempting to think you can rush in and make everyone a huge, happy family, but you can’t. I make all the kids welcome whenever they’re with us. I let them know that they have a place to come to if they want, because I think all kids need that kind of support. But I don’t advise them, because things can backfire. Actually, you know I really get on with Alana. She’s a terrific woman.”
Rod and Rachel’s marriage has been through a sort of baptism by fire – the press has had a field day with Rod’s past relationships and the salacious memoirs of a former housekeeper.
Rachel has weathered the storm with impressive equanimity.
“I got really mad about only one thing,” she said. ” I want everyone to know that Rod and I do not sleep with a pillow between us. And we never have.”
“When I was really heavily pregnant, I would rest my tummy on a little baby pillow, a kind fan sent to us. But that’s all, it was never between us.”
As for all the other revelations by the housekeeper, Rachel shrugged them off.
“Some of it sounded pretty awful, but most of it has been said before. She has nothing on Rod and me because there’s nothing to have. Rod never asked Kelly to marry him the same week that he asked me. That was a lie, too.
“When we first started going out, I told Rod I didn’t want to be hurt. I knew about his past, but I didn’t care about it because it was before my time. I told him it’s important to me that people are faithful to each other, and that is, if he messed up with me, that would be it. I’d be gone. I have no time for liars, and everybody always finds out in the end.
“Having said that,” she added, twirling a mouthful of pasta onto her fork, “I don’t think about anything going wrong between Rod and me. Why worry if you don’t have to? If you think about things, sometimes you make them happen.”
Coming from New Zealand has given Rachel a firm grip on the real world: “We have good morals back home. That’s helped a lot. They’re really important. If you don’t know what’s right or wrong, I don’t know how you can function.”
When she was 15, Rachel’s parents separated and she decided to move out of hom and support herself. She fell into modelling easily. She learnt early that getting turned down for a modelling job wasn’t personal rejection.
“You’ve got to close off from someone saying they don’t like your eyes or your chin or your legs. You’ve got to be able to say, “This is me, like it or lump it.” I’ve seen movies about models getting into drugs or about girls going on diets, but I’ve never known the business to be like that at all.
“I mean, I get to go to some pretty far-flung locations, but I never see them because we work all day. You’ve got to be fit to work hard.”
Rachel has not considered retiring now that she’s a mother: “People keep asking me why I work. Well, I like it. I like being independent. And I’m only 23, I should be working. I don’t want to sit at home and knit. Not yet. I’ve brought a wonderful, healthy, happy baby into the world, and I’m going to make sure she does everything with her mother and father. But I still have to work. I like having my own money. I like to spend it on Renee. And I can’t imagine going out and buying Rod a Christmas present with his money.”
Since the birth of Renee, Rachel has barely touched alcohol. “Wine just tastes terrible to me. I might have a brandy once in a while, but that’s it,” she said. Most nights, Rachel and Rod prefer to stay at home, playing a settled married couple.
“Rod’s calmed down. We go to clubs occasionally, but he’s not the party animal everyone thinks he is. He’s completely different to the image the press has of him. The press can make people sound mean, vicious and greedy because it just picks up little bits. IT forgets all the nice things because nice news doesn’t sell. But I can tell you Rod is a great guy, sensitive and wonderful.”
“Before I met him, I didn’t trust humans much. I thought only animals understood me. My husband has helped me to trust people more – even more than having my baby has.”
Back in the studio after lunch, Rachel flicked through a furniture catalogue while her make-up was being redone.
At that moment, the studio door opened, and Rachel’s Irish nanny walked in with Renee. Rachel’s face lit up.
“Come to Mummy,” she said, arms out.
Renee dribbled with delight and promptly needed a nappy change.
“Ah, the smell,” Rachel said, sighing. “It’s universal with babies. And to think, I want another one.”
Another one? “Yes,” said Rachel. “I don’t want to wait too long. I might get used to sleeping right through the night.”
Words: Susan Duncan
This exclusive feature has been edited from its original format.
I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Australia airs on Channel 10 and is available on-demand on 10Play.
