Rod Stewart Says 'Intimacy' Has Been Key in His 14-Year Marriage to Penny Lancaster

In his 76 years of living, Rod Stewart can say with confidence that he's learned a lesson or two about love.

That's why the legendary rocker offered up some of his hard-won advice to the six young women in his band while traveling on a flight with them recently.

"On the plane, we were talking about how some of them are broken up and how some of them are thinking of breaking up," Stewart recalls to PEOPLE in this week's issue, on newsstands Friday. "I told them, 'Intimacy is the most important thing in a relationship.' Don't take it for granted."

In his own marriage to his wife of 14 years, model Penny Lancaster, the London native says intimacy has been crucial.

"I'm not talking about sex, but a kiss and a cuddle and a hold," he says. "Penny and I do that every morning. We hug each other — sometimes in bed, sometimes out of bed, all throughout the day. It's a wonderful relationship. Lucky geezer, aren't I?"

Stewart first met Lancaster, 50, in 1999, just days after splitting from his ex-wife, model Rachel Hunter.

"Rachel broke up with me on a Monday evening, and it was heartbreaking. No one leaves Rod!" Stewart says. "But that Saturday night, I met Penny at the Dorchester Hotel in London. The bass player in my band, Carmine, said, 'Listen, you've just come out of a long nine-year marriage. You're not ready yet.'"

"I nearly strangled him!" he adds with a laugh. "Six months later, he gave me her phone number and she came over. She has mended my heart in more ways than one."

After he finalized his divorce from Hunter, 52, in 2006, Stewart wed Lancaster in Italy a year later. They've since welcomed two sons, Alastair and Aiden, now 15 and 10, respectively.

(In addition to Alastair and Aiden, Stewart has daughter Sarah, 58, whom he and ex-girlfriend Susannah Boffey placed for adoption as teens; son Sean 41, and daughter Kimberly, 42, with ex-wife Alana Stewart; daughter Ruby, 34, with ex-girlfriend Kelly Emberg; and daughter Renee, 29, and Liam, 27, with Hunter.)

As a father of eight, Stewart says he's learned to adapt his method of parenting to fit each child.

"I have to be several different fathers because of the different age groups of my kids," he says. "You really have to treat all of them as individuals with individual problems. For instance, my 15 year old is dating girls, so I had to give him a sex lesson. I just told him what he should and shouldn't do, but he's on top of it. He was like, 'Dad, I've got the internet. I know everything.'"

"All the [older] kids went through their little bad period of drinking too much and dabbling in drugs — except for Liam; I don't think he ever did — but they all came out on the other side," he continues. "As a dad, I've learned to listen and not blow my top."

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Beyond his life as a husband and father, Stewart has kept just as busy in his career. In 2022, he's set to reprise his acclaimed Las Vegas residency, "Rod Stewart: The Hits." But first, on Nov. 12, he'll release his 31st studio album, The Tears of Hercules, which he calls "the best album I've made in a long time."

"I mean, Adele's got an album coming out a week later, so now I'm s—," he says. "But I'll let Adele have it this time. I've had my fair share."

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In his five decades of stardom, Stewart has had his fair share indeed. Since topping Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart for six weeks in 1971 with "Maggie May," Stewart has gone on to sell more than 250 million albums and singles worldwide.

"In the '60s, all I wanted to do was save up and buy a little cheap sports car," he says. "Now here I am with many sports cars."

Still, he says that at the end of the day, "There's nothing like having kids."

For all the details on the lessons Rod Stewart's learned about love and life, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.