Whatever happened to…

ONE MAN AND MANY WOMEN, ALL OF WHOM HIT THE HEADLINES IN THEIR OWN RIGHT AS WELL AS BEING HIS PARTNER OF THE MOMENT. BE INTERESTING IF HE EVER KEPT A DIARY…

Words: JILL ECKERSLEY

Bianca Jagger

Originally an actress, but more recently much better known as a campaigner for human rights and the environment, Bianca was born in Nicaragua. She won a scholarship to study political science at a prestigious French University and it was at a party after a Rolling Stones gig in 1970 that she met Mick Jagger. They were married in Saint-Tropez and their daughter Jade was born in 1971. Throughout the 70s and 80s, Bianca was seen as part of the jet-set and as a friend of artist Andy Warhol, often frequenting the famous New York club, Studio 54. She and Mick were divorced in 1978 after which she became deeply involved in campaigning for human rights.

After the 1972 earthquake in Nicaragua, she returned to her home country to see the destruction for herself and to help out. Since then she has been actively campaigning with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and drawing the world’s attention to causes such as environmental protection and violence against women and girls. She has won many awards for her humanitarian work and is currently a Council of Europe goodwill ambassador, as well as establishing the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation.

Through her daughter Jade, she is the proud grandmother to two granddaughters and one grandson – and in 2014 she became a great-grandmother! She and Mick Jagger have remained good friends and although she is usually based in London near her family she still says that Nicaragua “feels like home.”

Jerry Hall

Texan-born Jerry Faye Hall was one of the fashion world’s most indemand models from the 1970s onward – and the mother of four of Mick Jagger’s children. Jerry and two of her daughters all graced the cover of Vogue magazine and in addition, Jerry appeared in movies like Batman in 1989, and in several roles on the West End stage.

She had a difficult childhood as her father had alcohol problems (it’s said that he gave Jerry and her twin Terry boys’ names as he was disappointed they were not sons).

An insurance pay-out after a car accident allowed her to buy a plane ticket to Paris when she was 16, and from then on she never looked back. Six feet tall and beautiful, her modelling career exploded. At one time she shared her Paris flat with singer Grace Jones and actress Jessica Lange. She dated singer Bryan Ferry and appeared on one of Roxy Music’s album covers Siren before meeting Mick in 1977.

The couple went through a form of marriage in Bali in 1990 and settled in Richmond, Surrey where their children were born. As well as her modelling and acting careers Jerry was a judge for the Whitbread Book Awards and a contributor to Tatler magazine. She and Mick split up after his affair with Brazilian model Luciana Morad, and in 2016 she married Australian media boss Rupert Murdoch. They were divorced in 2022.