Jagger: 'I'm not wealthy'

Bianca Jagger: Not just a Stones ex-wife.

11 April 2012

In a rare interview, Bianca Jagger tells

I am a bit nervous about meeting Bianca Jagger for lunch. For one, she is something of a heroine of mine, someone who has worked tirelessly for the cause of human rights for nearly a quarter of a century. I hate to admit it but she has also been something of a style icon: the severe, perfectly tailored suits, the slash of red mouth.

She has aged with a great deal of dignity. But she also has a reputation for being quite fierce and unforgiving; she does her homework (she arrives for our interview with sheaves of figures and reports under one arm) and has been known to chew up journalists and spit them out.

We meet at Claridge's, where the doorman later tells me she is "the nicest lady who has ever stayed here; she never forgets anyone's name and always tips handsomely".

She is using a crutch, having damaged her knee in an accident, but still looks impeccable, in a black trouser suit and cream silk blouse, silvery flecks in her dark hair.

I tell her she doesn't look her age as we order lunch (she doesn't eat meat, only fish, and is allergic to dairy).

She says the world of fame was never really hers, and she has spent years escaping from the stereotype of being the wife of Mick Jagger - they were married for nine years in the Seventies. What has defined her is nearly 25 years of campaigning for human rights, travelling the world for her cause.

Now she is concerned about celebrity involvement in the movement to eradicate poverty in Africa. Firmly in her sights are Bob Geldof and Bono. "Celebrities need to be cautious about using soundbites and hype and spin when we are dealing with issues as complex and overwhelming as this.

"The campaign to make poverty history is the collaborative effort of NGOs, grassroots organisations, the United Nations and thousands of people throughout the world who together are trying to achieve the millennium development goals. We would be very naive to think that debt relief of £40 billion and aid concerts will solve these problems.

"A lot of people are impressed by fame, impressed by Bono and Geldof. I don't think we need to sell out to cynical politicians in order to be effective. Although we need to persuade people in power, we should not succumb to make a difference. You say Bono and Geldof have highlighted the G8 summit, but it isn't just about the two of them."

She is "concerned about this club of mutual admiration" between Geldof and Bono and Bush and Blair. "Geldof said debt relief was a 'victory for the millions of people in the campaign around the world', and Bono called it 'a little bit of history'. I am concerned that after the aid concerts and the G8 meeting the public will be left with the impression that we have gone a long way, we will feel wonderful and believe we have done our bit.

"Did Geldof and Bono read the small print about the imposition of privatisation and trade liberalisation that will continue to maintain the status quo in these countries?"

She will indeed be in Edinburgh to lobby for fair trade, and has just launched, alongside Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for International Development, a new initiative from the Grow Up Free From Poverty coalition of 21 NGOs in which 4,000 children in 18 developing countries have been interviewed and given a rare chance to say what they think should be done to improve their lives.

A group of girls in the Uttarkashi region of India say simply: "We want to be active participants in the development of our village."

Bianca Jagger says that for the first time we are hearing what the next generation who actually live in the developing world think and dream of achieving by the year 2015.

"I was stunned by the clarity," she says. "They all see education as a priority and are concerned about alcoholism and abuse, and even understand corrupt politicians."

She was born Bianca Perez-Mora Macias in Nicaragua, still the second most impoverished country in the southern hemisphere. I ask if she was already politicised aged 16, when she left her home country to study political science in Paris, but she says what really opened her eyes was when, in 1972, she returned, with Mick, to Nicaragua after the devastating earthquake to find her parents - her mother, Dora, and her father, Carlos, a financier.

"It was a turning point in my life because I realised how the government was exploiting the tragedy to enrich itself.

"The big myth about me," she says, suddenly looking tired, "is that people imagine me to be very wealthy and have a glamorous life. But I don't. I don't own any properties. I don't have a car."

Does she still own all those fabulous clothes, the Saint Laurent suit she married in and the Halston gowns? She smiles at last. "You know what? Jade and I are still talking about what she will be able to get her hands on. I have some clothes she will want; my daughter has great style."

I wonder if Jade, now 33 and creative director of Garrard, the jeweller, might find her mother a hard act to follow, but you can see Bianca is incredibly proud of her. "She is such a good mother to Assisi and Amba, she has an eco-farm in Ibiza and is extremely environmentally conscious."

Is Bianca a good granny? "I am indulgent," she says, "and I wish I could see more of them. Jade is always telling me to slow down, she worries about me. But I have to do it. It is part of what keeps me alive. And I do switch off occasionally. I love art, and I love music and theatre and opera. I do yoga, at least a little bit every day."

She has been spending the past few months flying back and forth to LA to care for her 80-year-old mother, who is suffering from motor neurone disease. "It is a terrible disease," she says. "You begin not to be able to speak, then you cannot breathe. She is paralysed but she can move her left arm and she can swallow.

"They don't know where it comes from and they don't know how to cure it. She has probably had it for five years and yet her brain is so clear, her memory is perfect. Caring for my mother has made me realise how difficult it is for anyone to end up on their own; I know how important it is to my mother that I am there for her."

Bianca says she doesn't regret not marrying again after she divorced Mick in 1979. "I should feel sometimes lonely, and I don't because I am always busy. I fear perhaps I should do something about it, because maybe one day it will be too late, but I am content on my own.

"My daughter wants me to think about why I am on my own. She says I should get away from my work and think about relationships, but I don't think I need to.

"I don't know if later on I will regret it, letting this important time in my life go by. I was brought up a Catholic and there is the belief that you marry once, for life. All I want to say is I feel content, I don't say I will never have a relationship and I never want to close the door."

I ask if she ever thinks about giving up, that nothing is changing, that the disparity between the richest countries and the poorest keeps getting wider. "I went to visit a school in Zambia, and the children were all sitting quietly and calmly waiting for us. There was a little bundle on the floor and I touched him and he was boiling hot. I held him and they told me he had Aids.

"I wanted to take him to a hospital but they said there were no medicines. His parents were dead. I was pretty demoralised when I came back, but I have never thought about giving up. I can't."

For more information, visit www.grow-up-free-from-poverty.org

MORE ABOUT

Bianca Jagger

Bouncers

Human Rights

Sewing

Jagger: 'I'm not wealthy'

Read More