Scott Weiland’s Ex-Wife Writes Raw Open Letter to Their Kids
Mary Forsberg Weiland, the ex-wife of former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland and mother of his children, Noah, 15, and Lucy, 13, wrote a powerful and revealing letter on behalf of their kids published in Rolling Stone about the 48-year-old’s sudden death on Dec. 3.
In the letter, Mary wrote about how fans glorify rock stars struggling with addiction and the painful toll his drug problem took on their family.
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While Mary acknowledges Weiland’s “amazing talent” and “his ability to light up any stage with brilliant electricity,” she points out how people “almost encourage” stars with addiction to keep performing. “We read awful show reviews, watch videos of artists falling down, unable to recall their lyrics streaming on a teleprompter just a few feet away. And then we click ‘add to cart’ because what actually belongs in a hospital is now considered art.”
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She wrote that most of these artists have children at home. While some fans may have read in magazines that Weiland loved spending time with his kids and that he’d been drug-free for years, Mary says that’s not the whole picture. “In reality, what you didn’t want to acknowledge was a paranoid man who couldn’t remember his own lyrics and who was only photographed with his children a handful of times in 15 years of fatherhood,” she wrote.
Photo: Getty Images
On several occasions, Mary said, she’d have to sober him up just so Weiland could make their son’s talent show or daughter’s musical, in an attempt to create some sense of normalcy for their kids. She also mentions that their kids can’t remember the last time they saw their dad on Father’s Day and that, after he and Mary divorced in 2007, Weiland often didn’t send child support checks.
Mary wrote that Noah and Lucy never expected their dad to be perfect. “They just kept hoping for a little effort,” she wrote. “If you’re a parent not giving your best effort, all anyone asks is that you try just a little harder and don’t give up. Progress, not perfection, is what your children are praying for.”
Rather than glorifying a rock star’s tragedy with memorials, Mary asks parents to focus on spending time with their kids instead. “Skip the depressing T-shirt with 1967-2015 on it,” she wrote. “Use the money to take a kid to a ballgame or out for ice cream.”
Top photo: Corbis
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