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The Liz Smith Column | 10/30/2009 5:00 am

Liz Smith: Jerry Hall – Mrs. Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss!

Also from Our Gossip Girl, a new weapon in the flu fight.
Jerry Hall © PR Photos
"A lot happens at 50, the best thing being that you just don’t care anymore. At 40, you still care. At 30, you care way too much and your 20s are quite frankly a nightmare. Bring on 60, I say: just imagine the joy of having grandchildren!"
 
This is an irrepressible quote from an interview conducted by Celia Walden with the famous Texan Jerry Hall, once wed to Mick Jagger. (I have always loved Jerry. Why, she grew up in Gonzales, TX, a little town of 5,000 people, just 60 miles from San Antonio. It was Gonzales that sent most of its men to die in the Alamo.) My parents are both buried there. So Jerry and I have always been pals and have quite a connection. This gal has come a long way from Gonzales!
 
Jerry’s four children, ages 12 through 25, are all by Mick Jagger, so she remains entangled in the rock star’s peripatetic life. But now she has put the brakes on her rumored "explosive" memoir. Is this because she doesn’t want to dish her famed ex or is it because she just doesn’t have time to finish it?

Jerry has completed an Open University course in Humanities and the Enlightenment and she has been playing in the West End’s version of "Calendar Girls."

***
 
Here are some Jerry Hall-isms, from a girl who was first discovered, at age 16, wearing a bikini on the beach at St. Tropez.
 
"I still like myself. That’s why it’s important to have interests – then you don’t get sucked into this culture of obsessing about yourself."
 
"I don’t actually think … people are mean (about photos showing physical inadequacies). I think it’s a bit of entertainment, and if it makes people feel better that I’ve got cellulite and so do they, why should I take it personally?"
 
"I’m not going to be pushed into messing about with myself (surgically). But the sad thing is that Hollywood and TV are very ageist. Once you get older, they can’t wait to get rid of you, so a lot of women feel they have to have things done to keep working and I think that’s a big mistake. It looks awful … There’s a lot of pressure in the fashion industry, too."
 
"My love of literature goes back to my childhood … I was obsessed with the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Edna Saint Vincent Millay. I was quite nerdy at school."
 
"It could have been a disaster (speaking of when she ran away to France as a teenager). But I was incredibly lucky. Before long, I’d met Helmut Newton, done the cover of French Vogue, and my career was made."
 
These days, Jerry has become an ambassador for the Sony digital reader. "It doesn’t always pay for women to show up that side. People don’t like it. But I find strength through poetry … There’s also nothing like taking Proust to the beach and daydreaming along to it."

***

Does fame corrupt men more than women? This is the question Celia Walden asked Jerry Hall.
 
The reporter was referring to Mick Jagger’s bandmate, Ronnie Wood, who left his wife for a 21-year-old girl. Here’s Jerry: "There is no way a woman would ever leave her family for a teenager like that. It’s about a fear of dying for men: they want to stay immortal … it’s just that women are deeply rooted in reality."
 
Jerry says she and Mick speak several times a week "And he is a very hands-on dad." Asked if she still loves him, she says, "Yes." Asked if he will turn out to be the love of her life, Jerry says, "God, I hope not!"

32 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Beth Cornell
I am with you on this one, Belinda. Jerry reminds me of my late cousin, Lisa, died tragically in a car accident. A pistol with a good kind heart. Who I might add also loved poetry especially the classics.
By Beth Cornell on 10/30/2009 1:40 pm
Mary E. Sayler
When it comes to marriage, past and present, my family seems to beat the odds.  In the direct Family Line I know of only three divorces, all back in the 1800’s.  All other multiple marriages were due to death.  My own parents were married 52 years until my mother died.  My sister and brother have been married since the 1960’s and their children are on their first and only marriages.  I never married because I have yet to find a man that is strong enough for me.  I don’t mind being alone as I am enough for me.    
By Mary E. Sayler on 10/30/2009 4:26 pm
Laura Ward
Mick must have something that other women see.
By Laura Ward on 10/30/2009 5:37 pm
Baby  Snooks
Scroll up.  I just posted the something.  Rumor is he’s hot in bed. Dynamite according to some. 
By Baby Snooks on 10/31/2009 6:07 am
Laura Ward
I can’t get past his looks or his personality. Mick seems to think no woman can resist him. If he wasn’t a Rolling Stone, he’d be a nothing in looks. I don’t think he has much of a voice and I can’t believe people like the way he struts on stage. To me, the struts look like involuntary epileptic spastic attacks, jutting out of the chin and stuff, like a peacock. My ex-husband loved The Rolling Stones so I went to concerts to see them. Yet, I do like Jerry Hall. She’s a Texas gal like me.

As far as sex goes, only once in a while is a guy is really bad. Most of the time, sex is best when I feel the most about the guy. Then it’s fantastic. But that’s me. I know.

By Laura Ward on 10/31/2009 1:02 pm
Baby  Snooks

And back to the serious note of the flu quite a few are being felled by what is really a mild flu but some are not taking note of when it begins to move into the lungs and at that point the mild flu apparently turns into a killer flu tha kills very quickly.  If you sense it moving into your lungs get to a doctor or clinic or emergency room immediately.  If you wait until you have trouble breathing, it may be too late.  

And wash your hands often. The "sanitizer wipes" may miss some spots and often do.  

And

By Baby Snooks on 10/31/2009 9:04 am
Lauriate Roly

I know when you’re kidding around Baby Snooks, and I always enjoy and appreciate your humor. I also can tell when you mean business and I think your warnings here about the flu, especially your point regarding “when it begins to move into the lungs”, is unquestionably very sage and wise counsel which we must all pay particular attention to. That is exactly what my doctor has told me, and I thank you for emphasizing this critical point in diagnosing a serious and potentially dangerous stage in the illness. I trust that all the WOW’ers have read your important lines and that they take necessary precautions accordingly…and of course, that they pass along your good advice. LR.

By Lauriate Roly on 10/31/2009 10:51 am
Baby  Snooks

What kills people is not the flu but the secondary bacterial pneumonia which normally develops over the course of several days but in the case of this new strain develops over the course of several hours which is why it is so deadly just as it was during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and the similarities are beginning to worry everyone.  This strain is still mutating and may come back in several months much more virulent and much more deadly.  It is not something to dismiss on the basis that it doesn’t appear to be as dangerous as predicted. You may feel fine after 2 or 3 days and not pay attntion to the slight wheezxing or the ticklish feeling you have in your lungs and then suddenly you notice you are having trouble breathing. 

Also do not assume if you have had the mild form that you have immunity. Even if you have had the mild form you should still take the flu vaccines. You should also ask about the pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine (PPV) which map actually protect you more than the flu vaccine.  Bottom line is if you sense it moving into the lungs get to a doctor or clinic or emergency room immediately. The next day really may be too late.

By Baby Snooks on 10/31/2009 3:27 pm
Lauriate Roly
Baby Snooks, a million thank you’s.   I hope the others are reading your comments.   
By Lauriate Roly on 10/31/2009 4:28 pm
Baby  Snooks
And think of your hands as a deadly weapon.  They are.  Use a Kleenex to rub your tickly nose. 
By Baby Snooks on 10/31/2009 9:06 am
Frank Somsel

Mary: You must not be looking much. What does "strong enough for you" mean? Do you want a guy that can bench 275, or someone that can put you in your place?

You mind being alone, we all do. Turning the light off at night alone sucks. You are "not enough" for you. You want a relationship just like everyone else does. The one is out there for you. If you have to take 3/4.

Oh yeah, Jerry Hall was your typical groupie gold digger that crawled her way to the top.

By Frank Somsel on 11/01/2009 1:45 am
Bella Mia

We’ve had a teenager at our local high school die this last week from the flu.  He was completely healthy, developed symptoms on Friday, ran a high fever and was hospitalized with seizures, and was dead by Sunday.  

The hand sanitizer at the table seems a bit much.  I don’t like the smell either.  Everyone should just have excused themselves after ordering, and washed their hands in the ladies’ room.  That used to be called "freshening up."

Saving marriage….it’s something I’ve studied, and believe in, because most people want their relationships to improve at some point.  Most people, especially women make an enormous investment in the relationship, and when it’s painful and disappointing, they often don’t know what to do.  It’s suffering, but often unnecessary.

"Saving marriage," is really an educational approach to support, marriage, preferably BEFORE the problems have set in.  Part of the mission is raising a new generation of young people that value marriage, understand it’s benefits and limitations, and learn to avoid avoidable stressors, like affairs, debt, and addictions.  Marriage statistically is very beneficial to children, scholastic achievement, neighborhood stability, crime rates….and on and on.  It has a domesticating effect on men that really keeps a check on male aggression while motivating men to achieve, and succeed.  

As social science research data and government surveys increasingly show, the decline in marriage since the 1960s has been accompanied by a rise in a number of serious social problems. Children born out of wedlock or whose parents divorce are much more likely to experience poverty, abuse, and behavioral and emotional problems, have lower academic achievement, and use drugs more often. Single mothers are much more likely to be victims of domestic violence. With the rise in these problems comes high program costs to deal with the effects of the breakdown of marriage.
For children whose parents remain married, however, the benefits are real. Adolescents from these families have been found to have better health and are less likely to be depressed, are less likely to repeat a grade in school, and have fewer developmental problems. The implications of such mounting evidence for social policy are immense. Too many welfare programs continue to undermine marriage among the poor and must be reevaluated. 
http://www.heritage.org/research/features/marriage/index.cfm 
By Bella Mia on 11/02/2009 12:09 am
mody moon
what about sex
By mody moon on 11/04/2009 12:35 pm