Loose Women panellist Penny Lancaster has opened up about her eldest son's experience with bullying at the start of anti-bullying week, and how the fame of his father, Rod Stewart, has resulted in other children being unkind to him. Talking to The Times, mum-of-two Penny said that Alastair, 12, had been "through a little bit of bullying: silly things people say about his dad, which all of Rod's kids have been through." As a result, Alastair doesn’t like being taken to school in his parent's cars, instead preferring to go in the car with his nanny. Penny added that she tells her son that children are only cruel because they aren't happy themselves. The doting mum said that she has comforted Alastair by telling him: "You are tall, polite, handsome. You have got your arts scholarship. You are a brilliant sportsman. People always want to cut down the tallest poppy. They are jealous – rise above it."
Rod Stewart and Penny Lancaster's son Alastair has experienced bullying
Penny herself has opened up in the past about her own experiences with bullying. The model told HELLO! that her mum used to help her get through her school days. "I wasn’t that confident when I was younger and I was bullied at school, and it was my mum who kept telling me to believe in myself and to not change to please others, and that's something I try and teach my little ones."
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In January, it was revealed that Penny had been diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 46, something which had impacted her during her time at school. Talking on Loose Women, she explained that she had always thought that she had something wrong during her school days, but said that teachers didn’t understand learning difficulties back then, causing her to feel "not clever and lazy".
Penny Lancaster on how her mum got her through her childhood
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The star added that even before finding out, her musician husband has been her rock by helping her to address her difficulties. She said that she became "very fearful" whenever she felt she couldn’t do something, which led to her to feeling anxious, but after meeting Rod he helped give her confidence. She said: "Then I met Rod and he gave me lots of confidence. We did a lot of public speaking and I said 'I can't do it' but he would say 'yes you can.'"
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