Driving up to Jo Wood’s off-grid farmhouse means leaving behind the hustle and bustle for a quiet and peaceful idyll.
HELLO! is greeted by the calming sounds of sheep bleating and birds singing as we arrive for our exclusive photoshoot and interview with the entrepreneur and author.
Get closer to the honey-coloured Grade II-listed main house, though, and another sound cuts through the atmosphere: the trademark laughter of a woman who’s living her best life.
Jo is celebrating her latest achievement: that of published fiction author. Although she has previously written a memoir and compiled a picture book covering her life with former husband Ronnie Wood’s band The Rolling Stones, The Resurrection of Flo marks her first foray into fiction. And she couldn’t be prouder.
“It’s such a big achievement for me to be an author, because I used to do so badly at school,” she tells us. “My father used to say to me: ‘Josephine, you are going to end up in Woolworths.’ I thought: ‘No I am not!’
“He would be so shocked if he knew his daughter was an author. I am very proud of myself. I never thought I could do it.”
A new chapter
Jo, 70, was inspired to write the book after going on a date with a man who gave her a colourful take on his divorce. “I walked out of that date and thought: ‘God, that would make such a great story.’ I kept thinking about it.”
The finished product follows Flo, a woman in her 50s who finds out that her husband has had an affair and kicks him out. After feeling depressed, she dusts herself down, reignites her acting career and gets back into dating.
Although Jo had a similar experience when her 24-year marriage to Ronnie imploded in 2009, she says the book is very much not based on her relationship with the Rolling Stones guitarist. “This book has nothing to do with Ronnie – zero to do with him – but the same emotions are there.
“When I was thinking about writing a book, I bumped into a friend of mine who had split up with her husband, and she said to me: ‘My life’s over, isn’t it, Jo?’ I said: ‘No, it’s not. There’s plenty of life in you, no matter how old you are.’
“In my head, Flo is another woman, because I became her friend while I was writing it – but like everything in life, you have to draw from experiences.”
Referring to her own experience, she recalls: “I was heartbroken, of course, but I knew I couldn’t give up; I had to get myself back together again. I had all my girlfriends around me, and my family were so great and supportive.
“It took a bit of time, because I’d never done anything on my own. But it made me an independent woman, because I had never, ever been an independent woman. I learnt how to look after myself. I learnt to pay my bills.”
Family affair
Jo’s family – she has four children and ten grandchildren – is also a big part of her life. Leah and Jack, who have children Maggie and Otis, live very close by, while Tyrone – who married Iron Maiden star Steve Harris’s daughter Faye in a wedding covered exclusively by HELLO! last year – has just moved back to the UK from Ireland.
Her son Jesse recently split from his wife, TV presenter Fearne Cotton, but Jo says: “He’s handled it very well. I think he’s done great, and I really wish them both the best in these new chapters.”
Relations with Ronnie remain cordial, which is fortunate, given a scenario that unfolded when Jo went on her friend Fran Cutler’s recent birthday trip to the Bahamas.
“Ronnie was staying in the same hotel,” she laughs. “Fran said: ‘Jo, you’re not going to believe it, but Ronnie and [his wife] Sally are arriving. I said: ‘Oh my god, of all the places in the world!’ I went up to him and I said: ‘Your ex-wife’s here, too!’ It was fine, though. We are fine.”
Readers can buy the book with a 30 per cent discount with the code HELLO30.
For the full interview with Jo, pick up a copy of this week’s HELLO! Magazine, out now.
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