One of the most Rock and Roll things ever, this is the story of Robert Plant’s children to two sisters. Miraculously he was able to maintain a healthy relationship with both mothers despite the potential awkwardness.
You know, people can’t fall in love with me just because I’m good at what I do.
Robert Plant
Robert Plant was the lead singer of Led Zeppelin and one of their main songwriters. He was also a sex symbol of the 60s and 70s thanks to the soul-searching and visceral performances he put on while playing with the band.
What’s evident to all is that the onstage persona of Plant was perhaps antithetical to his personal life, struggling to control his romantic and decadent urges to feel and experience.
Which led him to some rather questionable circumstances off stage, while earning him stardom on stage.
The singer has his own place within the halls of Rock ad Roll history alongside his equally favored bandmates, but also has a quite interesting personal history – perhaps one of the wildest stories of Plant’s sex appeal and curious affairs occurred when he divorced the mother of his children and proceeded to have another child with her sister a short time after.
Somehow, this story stays pretty amicable, considering the case against Plant, but its truth is bewildering and has become a classic Robert Plant ‘fun fact’ Zeppelin fans love to tell. But what’s the story?
How did Plant have children with two sisters and how did he keep it amicable?
Keep reading to find out!
Robert Plant’s Initial Marriage To Maureen Wilson
During the mid-60s when Plant was a struggling musician, he met a kindred soul in Maureen Wilson at a Georgie Fame concert in 1966 and love blossomed which eventually led to them having three children:
Initially, Wilson actually helped Plant out a lot while he was struggling. Her more substantial salary as a nurse at the time helped them get along while Plant was making ends meet with his struggling bands as well as solo projects.
Although once Plant had started to see success with Led Zeppelin, this all changed.
Maureen eventually retired early thanks to the success of Zeppelin and spent most of her time looking after their children to which Plant paid her respects for on the song’ Thank You’ from Led Zeppelin II.
In 1977 a parent’s worst nightmare occurred as their second youngest child Karac Pendragon Plant passed away due to an illness aged 5.
Clearly, this had a devastating effect on the couple, Plant questioned his own future and behavior for the months after as the two grieved.
Plant was actually away on tour in the US when the tragedy occurred, this was too much for his wife, and Plant’s absences due to touring in addition to this tragedy left the two to amicably part while still co-parenting their children.
Plant certainly had some extra-marital affairs that could have played a part, he notoriously had a ‘tour wife’, as well as other affairs, and it was likely too much for Wilson as they divorced in 1983.
Plant’s ‘tour wife’ was Audrey Hamlton, a notorious ‘groupie’ at the time who spent time with other bands including Led Zeppelin.
Her time with Plant seems to be purely physical, although he wrote a fair share of songs about her as he did with his other lovers.
Yet, their relationship came to a swift end when Robert Plant’s son Karac died aged five while Plant was on tour in the US.
They both parted ways and didn’t seem to reunite as Hamilton went on to follow around some other bands.
Eventually, this led her to date Ace Frehley, lead guitarist of KISS, with whom she had a daughter.
His Relationship With Wilson’s Sister, Shirley
Eight years after they divorced, in the mid-nineties, Plant ended up having a child named Jesse Lee in 1991. What was ackward is that he got a child with Maureen’s sister Shirley, his previous sister-in-law.
It’s unclear how the two ended up together, whether their relationship lasted a long time, or if their son was simply the result of a steamy one-off occasion.
But it seems they chose not to stay together for any huge period of time, likely due to Plant’s history with her sister – but this remains unclear.
It’s clear that sleeping with your ex-wife’s sister could cause some arguments and is probably something most people would consider morally questionable, but demonstrates Robert’s love for romance and adventure.
She had perhaps already accepted his inability to be monogamous, allowing her to accept his relations with her sister.
Perhaps Plant was heartbroken from how his relationship ended with Maureen, and he sought some solace in the arms of her sister, or perhaps Plant’s true love was Shirley and he was simply demonstrating how he had pined for her.
The truth is likely contained within this love triangle.
Regardless, and quite astonishingly, this triangle still remains amicable. While it seems likely that some heated arguments will have occurred and Maureen was likely unhappy with this fact.
But, both Maureen and Shirley have been seen at Robert’s gigs in his Post-Zeppelin life, as recently as 2010 – so they must have been able to put it all behind them, for the sake of the children.
This said, Jesse Lee was born in 1991 and is 31 now. He keeps his life away from the cameras as most of Plant’s children do.
Yet, Robert Plant still records, performs, and even has his own podcast now to tell these dastardly tales of rockstar stardom. But Plant’s son seemed to attend his father’s CBE award for his contributions to music.
Our Final Thoughts On Robert Plant’s Children
Plant actually has never remarried after the divorce from his first wife, they likely had their fair share of marital scrapes that proved enough for the pair of them. Maybe Plant realized that monogamy simply wasn’t for him, which sounds like the right idea.
Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980, while having many reunions and live tours after this to celebrate their continued fame.
Plant continued to be a recognizable figure on stage and even to this day, performing with many bands on a solo basis.
Most notably with:
Since they have broken up Plant has received multiple awards of serious acclaim, celebrating his voice and his persona on stage.
Perhaps most notable of these awards was a 2009 poll which labeled him as “the greatest voice in rock” as voted by fans of the radio station Planet Rock.
Plant’s relationship with monogamy is clearly affected by his Rock and ROll lifestyle as well as being the archetype of the ‘Rock God’.
While this seemed manageable for his wife who was happy staying home, this became too much when their son passed tragically and Plant had to reevaluate his behavior.
Plant’s relationship with Led Zeppelin reunions seems to be much similar to his relationship with women, the romantic rush he gets from both seems to keep him going back for more.
He once described a Led Zeppelin reunion as being like
sharing a bed with your ex-wife and not sleeping with her.
This shows that Plant is a promiscuous man unable to control his romantic and artistic urges, his on-stage persona demonstrating this well, but this seems to also be what formed Plant into the rock star archetype for which he was so well known.
Hopefully, he has learned from his promiscuous endeavors, he mentions recently in his podcast how he’s been dreaming of those who have passed in his life:
Maybe he has taken some time to reflect on past behaviors and events.
To meet Robert Plant’s children, check out the video below from Stars Lifestyles.
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