Gene Simmons weighed in on the recent deaths of musicians Prince and David Bowie in a new interview with Newsweek. The singer claims Prince’s death was “a choice.”
“Bowie was the most tragic of all because it was real sickness,” the Kiss member told Newsweek. “[Prince’s] drugs killed him. What do you think, he died from a cold?”
Prince died on April 21 at the age of 57 in his Chanhassen, Minnesota estate. His autopsy results were inconclusive and still awaiting a full toxicology report.
“I think Prince was heads, hands and feet about all the rest of them,” Simmons continued. “I thought he left [Michael] Jackson in the dust. Prince was way beyond that. But how pathetic that he killed himself. Don’t kid yourself, that’s what he did. Slowly, I’ll grant you … but that’s what drugs and alcohol is: a slow death.”
Simmons concluded, “The one question I have is: When we all start out and we have these big dreams and you finally get your wish — you have more money than God and fame — what is that insane gene in us, well, a lot of us, that makes us want to succumb to the cliché of clichés: drugs and alcohol?”
