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Ronnie Wood found acclaim as a musician long before joining The Rolling Stones. He played bass with the Jeff Beck Group and then guitar with the Faces before the Stones added him as a rhythm guitarist. Keith Richards needed only six words to praise Wood, but another musician was far more critical. Diana Ross exposed the fact that Wood was hardly ready to be a dad in 1976 and made him do something about it.

Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, his girlfriend Jo Howard, and their children, including's Wood's son with his first wife sitting on a couch circa 1985.
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood with his girlfriend Jo Howards and their children | LGI Stock/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood first became a dad in 1976

Wood knew several Stones from kicking around the London music scene. He helped write one hit Stones song before he joined the band in 1975. By October of 1976, Wood was about to be a dad. 

As he writes in his autobiography Ronnie, he and his wife Krissie were expecting around Halloween 1976. She went into labor during the couple’s Halloween party and remained at the home until she needed medical assistance to deliver.

Wood returned home as his wife recovered from their son Jesse’s birth. Ross asked to see the baby’s room when he returned, and she exposed the blatant truth — Wood wasn’t quite ready to be a proper father.

Wood racked a massive credit card bill when Diana Ross exposed him for not being ready to be a father

He eventually grew into the father role, but Ross exposed the truth about Wood — he wasn’t ready to be a dad when his son was born. 

As he writes in Ronnie, Wood showed Ross what was to be the baby’s room. It was completely bereft of the basic necessities:

“She looked around at the double bed and all the other regular, normal furniture that bedrooms have and said, ‘You can’t do that. Where’s the bassinet?’ I said, ‘What’s a bassinet?’ She asked, ‘Where’s the table to change the baby? Where are all the toys and trinkets that go around the cradle? Where’s the cradle?’”

Maybe the English approached parenting an infant differently than Americans. Perhaps the baby accessories industrial complex wasn’t as pervasive in the 1970s as in the 21st century. Still, infants need a place to sleep (not a double bed). They need diapers and clothes and small toys. The fact that the home lacked a crib and baby toys proved that Wood wasn’t ready to be a dad. His wife wasn’t ready for parenthood either, it seems.

Ross corrected Wood’s mistake and took the guitarist on a shopping spree. 

“[She] drove me to some baby shop where she told the saleswoman, ‘He’s going to need this, and he’s going to need that.’ She made me buy it all,” Wood writes in his book. “I kept saying, ‘Steady on, Diana, it’s only a little baby,’ but thousands of dollars later, we came back to the house with an entire roomful of stuff.”

The Rolling Stones’ guitarist has fathered six children

Wood clearly wasn’t prepared to be a dad in 1976. Thankfully for him, Diana Ross helped sort things out. The guitarist, who wasn’t quite ready for fatherhood at first, has grown into the role.

Wood and his second wife, Jo, had two children together, and the guitarist adopted her son from a previous marriage. The guitarist and his third wife, Sally, welcomed twin girls in 2016. 

The guitarist has supported charities that impact children over the years. He has supported the Small Steps Project in the past, and Wood’s painting skills came in handy at a charity art auction for an Irish children’s charity, as The Independent reported.

Diana Ross exposed that Ronnie Wood wasn’t ready to be a dad in 1976. The guitarist grew into the role of being a father, and he cares enough about kids to support them via charitable efforts.

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