The legendary singer talks about his five marriages, being an older dad and his ‘foolish’ cosmetic work.
Celebrating his 50th year in showbusiness, country music superstar Kenny Rogers is heading to Australia on tour.
In an exclusive interview with Woman’s Day, the man who sang hits such as The Gambler, Coward Of The County, Islands In The Stream and Lucille reveals there’s much more to his life than music.
Married five times and father to four-year-old twin boys — plus two sons and a daughter from previous marriages — Kenny talks about his marriages, being a dad to small children at 70, his cosmetic surgery regrets and his new house, which is “like Disneyland with animals”.
Apart from music, your other great passion is photography. You’ve photographed the likes of Ronald Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball.
Yes I had a book called Friends Of Mine. It included Michael Jackson and Lucille Ball who I hadn’t met before. And we had great fun doing it. I have a new book almost finished called Faces And Places. It’s stuff I’ve shot in China, Africa and Saudi Arabia and just all over the world. I was going through my pictures when we were talking about coming to Australia and I realised I didn’t have one picture of Australia. I think I didn’t have my cameras with me on the last trip I was down there so I’m bringing everything with me this time and I’m going to see what’s down there.
Any bizarre moments with your photography?
I photographed President Ronald Reagan. There’s a law you’re not allowed to be alone with the President unless you have a Grade 5 security clearance, which I didn’t. He walked in while I was setting up and I thought, “Oh God please don’t let him die while I’m just here alone.” Then the Secret Service guys came in and said, “What’s your plan?” And I said, “I thought I’d shoot the President by the window.” They said, “Don’t ever use that word.” Then I said, “Well I’d like to photograph him by the window.” And they said it would take two hours just to get all the snipers removed from the shot. We had fun. He liked to talk. When it was all over and I said, “Thank you Mr President,” he said, “Can’t you just hang back and chit chat for a while?” It was so touching. He just wanted to talk and it wasn’t like he was in a hurry. It was magic. He could not have been warmer. He tried to tell me a dirty joke and a lady walked in the room, and he said, “I’ll tell you later,” Such a sweet, sweet man. A gentleman.
Was Elizabeth Taylor good value?
She was great. As usual she was two hours late for the photo session. But once she got there, I thought I only had 15 minutes with her, but she stayed for three hours. She was such a trouper. We became really good friends. It was some time in the 80s.
How important is telling a story with your songs?
To me that’s the beauty of country music. We sing about things like rejection. And I think if you’re going to pick someone up in the first part of the song you need to drop them off at the end with some type of emotion — to make them laugh, cry or really think about where they are now.
Is it true you regret having plastic surgery? What have you had done?
Are you kidding? I’m the plastic surgery king. I’m a bionic man! Every part of my body has been scooped or something at one time. I kinda wish I hadn’t done it. I had my eyes done. Looking back at some pictures of myself, my eyes were a lot warmer than they are now, and I miss that. They have settled in a lot and they’re not as bad as they were right after surgery.
Why did you want to take away the traits — like your eyes — that make your character?
Foolish, wasn’t it? We all try … you know, Wanda is so much younger than me. On our first date, I picked her up and she had on this little black dress with a big yellow bow. And I said, “Wanda, you look like you’re 19. You need to dress a little older and I’ll dress a little younger and we’ll meet somewhere in the middle.” I didn’t want to be an old man with this young girl. I didn’t want to look like an old man…
Read more of this interview in Woman’s Day magazine (on-sale September 29, 2008)
For information about Kenny Rogers’ Australian tour dates, visit www.ampresents.com
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