Sir Rod Stewart says Penny Lancaster has taught him to be more honest.

The 80-year-old rocker has been married to Penny, 54, for over 25 years and while there are downsides to their age-gap romance, Rod believes it has been beneficial to both of them.

Speaking on the BBC's My Life At Christmas with Anita Rani, he said: "I think, to be honest with you, I think the age difference, there are downsides to the age difference, but not many. I think there's a maturity, I may have taught Pen, and there's a certain honesty that she's taught me.

"I've always said we don't argue before we go to bed, and we do not argue when we've had a glass of wine, and we wait till the morning. And if we do have arguments, it's over real quick. And I try to teach my boys, all of them, 'real men can say sorry', and that's what we do. There's a wonderful honesty between us and long may it last."

Penny also praised Rod for becoming more "open and honest" over the years.

She told him: "I think that over the years, you've become a lot more understanding and compassionate to others around you, because obviously, you are the super legendary star that Rod Stewart is on a pedestal all the time but I'm quite diplomatic and carry a lot of empathy, and I think maybe some of that has rubbed off, because the kids will say that dad's much easier to talk to now. Because I am open and honest it has encouraged Rod to do the same."

Rod also spoke about his friendship with Sir Elton John and the lavish Christmas gifts they used to buy for each other.

He said: "We used to live just around the corner from each other. So we saw a lot of each other. You know, a lot of history there. So I went out down to Selfridges, Harrods, and I bought him this fridge. It don't look like a fridge, it looks like a piece of furniture. So you press a button and the lid opens, all steam comes out, and up it comes two bottles of champagne, glasses, all chilled and everything. Pour yourself a drink, and it goes back down. So I was all pleased with myself. And I took it over to Elton's. I said, 'Here you are, dear'. And he said, 'Thank you it's so lovely. Here's your present'.

"It was a Rembrandt. A Rembrandt etching in those days was worth about 12 grand. It's up near the cinema room in Beverly Hills. Oh yeah, it's very special."