Gene Simmons attributed Ace Frehley’s death to his series of “bad decisions” over the years – suggesting those choices played role in the fatal fall that killed him. Simmons told the interviewer: “He refused [advice] from people that cared about him — including yours truly — to try to change his lifestyle … in and out of bad decisions. Falling down the stairs — I’m not a doctor — doesn’t kill you.” He added, “There may have been other issues, and it breaks my heart.”
According to Blabbermouth, Frehley, age 74, died of blunt-trauma injuries to the head — following fall in his New Jersey home studio — an accident ruled as such by officials. Simmons, alongside other founding bandmates, attended Frehley’s private funeral in October. Simmons admitted that looking back, he feels regret over not doing more to intervene in Frehley’s life. He said he and the other surviving bandmates — including Paul Stanley and Peter Criss — sometimes avoided confronting Frehley about his lifestyle, because “you want to get through it for selfish reasons… the chicks and the money.”
Reflecting on the funeral, Simmons described attending the open-casket service as “heartbreaking,” and lamented that Frehley died just before the band was set to receive lifetime-achievement honour at the Kennedy Center Honors. “He couldn’t stay alive long enough to sit there proudly,” Simmons said. Simmons’s remarks have drawn sharp criticism from many fans and onlookers. Some view his comments about “bad decisions” and the assertion that fall shouldn’t be fatal as insensitive — especially given Frehley’s age and the confirmed circumstances of the accident. On social media, many argued that dismissing the seriousness of head trauma and brain bleeds as the result of bad choices adds insult to tragedy.
Photo Credit: Gary Moratz
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