Rocker and his wife stop to feed starving migrants in the street in Paris

Singer Rod Stewart shows generous side by feeding beggars in Paris

Rock star, 71, and wife Penny Lancaster gave mother and son groceries

Couple were returning from world's largest flea market in French capital

He was once described as being ‘tighter than two coats of paint’ about money.

But Rod Stewart showed he had a generous side during a trip to Paris.

When the 71-year-old singer and his wife Penny Lancaster spotted a mother and her young son begging on the street, they stopped their car to offer help.

They didn’t give the needy pair money though. Instead, Miss Lancaster was pictured handing them a bag of groceries and feeding them what appeared to be a baguette.

The couple were returning from hunting for antiques at the world’s largest flea market in Paris’s Porte de Clignancourt, when they saw Maria Canie, 25, a migrant from Kosovo, and her seven-year-old son shivering under a blanket.

The 44-year-old model spoke to them for about five minutes before heading back to her car to join her husband, who is thought to be worth around £150million.

Mrs Canie said Miss Lancaster gave them apples, biscuits, sandwiches and a bottle of water. ‘We were thankful to get some help from the nice lady,’ she said. ‘We didn’t know she was famous.

She said she fled her home ten years ago with her family because people were unkind to them for ‘being gipsies’ and that she is unable to work because she has no official documentation.

It was Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, a former bandmate of Stewart’s in The Faces, who once described the singer as ‘tighter than two coats of paint’ and others have also accused him of being penny-pinching.