By James Walsh

Jagger – His Past

Mick Jagger is not exactly young any more. Born in 1943, Jagger was one of those brilliant and angry young men growing up in post-war England. The social ferment and hypocrisy that he noticed in the decadent society around him affected his sensitive mind strongly. Jagger was a good student, and entered the prestigious gates of the London School of Economics with a hefty and well-earned scholarship. His mind was not on the degree on accounting and finance that he was supposed to be studying for. Within the year, he gave up on it and dropped out. The rest, as the good old cliché goes, is history. Jagger always had a flashy private life, with a constant line of rich and beautiful women entering and exiting. The list of his conquests is long when it comes to brief flings. Sophie Dahl, Carly Simon, Uma Thurman, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, Angela Bowie – the long and dazzling list can go on and on. Where Jagger is concerned, his affairs lived up to his reputation as a ‘Rolling Stone’.

Jagger’s Marriages

Mick Jagger has seven children from four women – in and out of wedlock – and scattered all over the world. He may have fathered more, given that unresolved scandals have always followed him. His first child, a daughter, was born when he was 27 and amorously involved with fellow singer Marsha Hunt. The lovers did not marry, and soon after, Jagger got into a serious affair with Bianca Moreno de Macias. Binaca had studied Political Science and French Literature, was a political activist, moved among the circles of power, but was definitely not famous before her celebrity marriage with Jagger in 1971. Later in the year, their daughter was born. The couple led a high society party-hopping life, till things began to turn sour between them. They moved apart in 1979, and in 1980, officially divorced.

The Chapter with Jerry Hall

English-American supermodel Jerry Hall was the proverbial ‘other woman’, who broke up Bianca and Jagger’s marriage. Jerry’s own engagement with Bryan Ferry was broken, and Ferry went on to record his experience in a famous song. Jerry and Jaggers did not get married. Their first child, a daughter, was born in London in 1984. The next year saw the birth of a son, and a famous claim from Jagger that marrying his partners would give him ‘claustrophobia’. Anyhow, they did get married in a lavish 3-hour Hindu ceremony while vacationing at Bali in 1990. They soon had another child. Their fourth issue, a son, was born in 1997. But Jagger was already beginning to ‘roll’ again, and in 1999, his affair with model Luciana Gimenez came to the forefront when she became pregnant. She underwent a DNA testing to prove his fatherhood, and Jerry was obviously not elated when the results came in Luciana’s favour. She filed for divorce on grounds of adultery.

The Controversy

Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger’s divorce remains one of the most heated debates in the legal circles, and is still a ‘fresh topic’ after all these years. Jagger’s lawyer argued that Jerry’s claim for divorce cannot stand – because the couple had not been married in the first place! He pointed out that they had not procured an official marriage certificate, and their wonderful Balinese marriage did not have any legal standing in the UK. This meant that Jerry would have to get hold of enough witnesses to span all 22 years of their partnership – just to prove that they had been cohabitating as a couple continuously for this time. The case didn’t proceed much after this, and Jerry walked away with something between 7.5-12.5 million pounds, which was a paltry sum for Jagger at 162.5 million pounds in 1999.

All’s well that ends well. Though Jerry was far from happy with the settlement, she has reported that Jagger is a good father, pays a lot of attention to the children, and is still her friend. Jagger has even bought a flat next to her apartment to ensure that he is able to give the children proper attention.