Mick Jagger’s Grief

Let me apologize in advance for any overtones of this blog that may sound a bit cynical. I don’t mean to demean anyone’s sincere grief, even a moral reprobate like Mick Jagger; but I find all this grieving about the loss of his lover a bit overdone. If you aren’t aware, the Rolling Stones’ head honcho lost to suicide his paramour of the last decade, fashion designer L’Wren Scott. Scott, 49, has been the main woman in the life of Jagger, 70, and her loss has seemingly affected him deeply. Scott was found dead on Monday in her high-rise Manhattan apartment. The six-foot-three Scott hung herself. Hollywood stars and even Michelle Obama wore her clothes, so it’s not clear why she ended her life. Jagger has been so distraught that the Stones have canceled a concert tour of Australia and New Zealand.

For Jagger and Scott, love didn’t go together with marriage. There was never any indication it crossed either of their minds. In the morally rarefied atmosphere of Hollywood and rock ‘n roll, why should it. They were “partners.” Like Oprah and Steadman. Angelina and Brad. In a tribute to Scott, on his web site, Jagger referred to her as a “friend and lover.” Definitely not a wife. You may ask, “What’s marriage got to do with grief?” A lot. Losing a wife of 10 years isn’t the same as losing a sexual companion of 10 years. It doesn’t work that way. God didn’t design it that way, and no amount of verbal gymnastics can change the definition of what that kind of relationship should have looked like spiritually. Marriage is a civil, moral, and spiritual covenant. I’ll grant Jagger sadness, but not the spiritual equivalence of grief. There was no legally-binding, covenant relationship between the two to have ripped apart by death. Say a prayer for the “Can’t Get No Satisfaction” man, he needs it. This just might be what finally wakes him up before it’s too late for him to make amends for his life of licentiousness.