The Story Of How Stevie Nicks Became 'Grandma Stevie'

Stevie Nicks has acquired many nicknames and titles throughout her long life and career. Recently, she became known as Fleetwood Mac's breakout star and one of the most successful soloists in music history.

One of Nicks's more surprising nicknames is Grandma Stevie, and it is surprising because she famously has no children of her own. Nicks has said several times publicly that she is a grandma figure to one person that is very close to her heart.

She recently shared the story of the Christmas she became Grandma Stevie and the pledge she made to her granddaughter. Here is everything she revealed about that special Christmas and all we know about her relationship with her granddaughter.

Over the years, Nicks made it clear several times that she would never get married. However, in 1983, grief changed her plans and pushed Nicks to the altar. Her best friend at the time, Robin Snyder Anderson, had just died of leukemia a few days after giving birth to her son and Nicks, and Anderson's family was devastated. 

Shortly after, Nicks decided that by marrying Anderson's widower, Kim Anderson, she could help to raise their infant child and do something good for her friend. However, things weren't what she expected them to be, and she and Anderson quickly realized that their marriage was a big mistake.

In a later interview with Vulture, Nicks said, "It was a terrible, terrible mistake. We didn't get married because we were in love, we got married because we were grieving and it was the only way that we could feel like we were doing anything."

"That wasn't really a marriage," Nicks further explained. "We did it to take care of her son. And, three weeks later, we realized that that wasn't going to work." The two then quietly got a divorce and went their separate ways.

When her marriage with Anderson didn't work out, and they divorced, Nicks became disconnected from him and his son, Matthew, for eight years. When they eventually reconnected, she and Matthew became very close, and she eventually sent him to college. Their relationship remained strong even after he married and had a daughter named Robin. 

In an interview with The Guardian in 2020, Nicks said, "Little Robin is five years old. Last Christmas, she was at my house and she comes into the kitchen, grabs my hand and goes: 'Come with me, Grandma Stevie,' and I'm going: 'Did this child just call me Grandma Stevie?' She did."

Nicks shared that the title deeply touched her, not just because of her love for the little girl but because she finally felt that she had a way to honor her late friend. She also shared the pledge she gave to Robin and said, "On that day I wrote in my journal, and it said: 'I promise you, Robin, that I will be Grandma Stevie until death does us part.'

Nicks has said in several interviews that her music career always had priority over her getting married and starting her own family. She once revealed that in 1979, she got pregnant for her then-boyfriend, Don Henley, and had an abortion, and she believes that this decision allowed Fleetwood Mac and her career to thrive.

In her interview with The Guardian, she spoke about the decision and said, "I would have had to walk away. And I knew that the music we were going to bring to the world would heal so many people's hearts and make people so happy. And I thought: you know what? That's really important. There's not another band in the world that has two lead women singers, two lead women writers. That was my world's mission."

Though she has no children, Nicks has strong relationships with Robin and all her goddaughters, so she has her fair share of the motherhood experience. She has also been a mentor to several female artists in the music industry, and this also earned her the nickname of "rock and roll Mama" by Natalie Maines. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, Nicks's goddaughters' number is around 11 or 12, which isn't even verified. Nicks herself is also unsure of the exact number of goddaughters she has. 

Rolling Stone described her in a post as a "nurturing and godmotherly figure to many young women." They also stated that some of her goddaughters include Mick Fleetwood's daughters, Tessa and Ruby, and other women, including Jewel Rose, Lindsey Christine, Stevie Rose, and others.