25 November 2020
Newsdesk
The 76-year-old Rolling Stones rocker found himself a new hobby to keep him occupied during the first lockdown - and he's loving his "more normal way of life" after years of excess.
In an interview with Goldmine magazine, the former hell-raiser - who recently revealed he has quit alcohol and cigarettes completely - said: "I saw the garden grow – really quite unbelievable.
"I spent the whole summer actually admiring the garden and also doing a bit of gardening myself – watering the veggies and the stuff.
"I got into a more normal way of life, which is un-normal."
Keith has spent several months "in hiding" with his wife Patti at their Connecticut home.
Asked if he was worried about contracting COVID-19, he said recently: "Oh yeah. In this particular area, New York and Connecticut, it was very heavy at the beginning.
“It’s been pretty well controlled since but this is about the only place in the whole country where it is...
“I’ve been in hiding, basically. Hunkering down with the family and a few friends because we have to stay in a bubble you know.
“I’ve been out to a restaurant with outdoor seating a couple times but now it’s getting a bit chilly so we’re eating in. Thank God the wife’s a good cook, bless her heart!”
Meanwhile, Keith sharing his passion for horticulture comes after his bandmate Ronnie Wood revealed he has taken up knitting.
The 'Gimme Shelter' group's bassist has been sober for a decade now, and in the place of getting drunk and high, the 73-year-old rocker stays in and makes his own scarves.
He said last month: "I do knit. I used to hold the spool of wool for my mum. She taught me the plain stitch and I still do it today. I knit endless scarves now."
The father-of-six - who has four adult children from previous relationships and four-year-old twins Alice and Gracie with third wife Sally - has long swapped drugs for coffee to get a high.
He added: "I'm an espresso man. But that is an old leftover habit from rehab.
"I couldn't do anything else so coffee was the thing."
