Amy Sussman/Getty ImagesPete Townshend is a married man again. In fact, he has been since last December, but now it’s official.
In a Facebook post Wednesday, the 72-year-old the Who co-founder revealed he and his longtime partner, fellow musician Rachel Fuller, 44, were wed in a small private ceremony last December. Townshend called the marriage a “very, very happy thing” for the couple, who’ve been together over 20 years.
As for keeping it quiet until now, Pete said, “Really, we were being selfish. I have been away on tour so much in recent years, we just wanted to be together, and savor the moment.” Oddly, as Fuller has been on tour with the Who, which Townshend called “a kind of wedding blessing for us both,” Pete has referred to her as his wife onstage and “the response has been great.”
Townshend married his previous wife, Karen Astley, in 1968; they have three grown children. They separated in 1994 and divorced in 2009.
In a separate post, Townshend said he plans to take a yearlong sabbatical, providing the official definition as “a period of paid leave granted to a university teacher for study or travel, traditionally one year for every seven years worked,” adding that he doubted he’d make his normal Who salary during that time.
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