Recently, the iconic KISS bassist, Gene Simmons, and his spouse, Shannon Tweed, engaged in a conversation with Piers Morgan, a host from Sky News Australia. They delved into discussions about their marriage, progeny, among other subjects.
When asked what “true love” means to him, Simmons responded: “Shamefully, I never confronted myself about that and barely said ‘I love you’ to my mother. Shocking and shamefully… I was afraid of being weak and not… I never opened myself to that. You know, the ‘knight in shining armor’ thing — at least you have protection around you. And I never wanted to be hurt ever again… What can I say? There’s no school for life and there’s no school that says, ‘Okay, this is what marriage is. This is what a relationship is.'”
Simmons found himself abandoned by his father during his childhood, left in the care of his mother, a survivor of the Holocaust. Reflecting on this later, he discussed his determined decision not to reach out to his father throughout his father’s lifetime.
“I wanted to prove to myself and to everybody else and to my father that I didn’t need him, so once I proved it and became successful, I wanted to stand stubbornly on my pride and not move,” he said.
After 28 years of dating, Gene tied the knot with Shannon in 2011. The couple chose The Beverly Hills Hotel as their wedding venue, which saw an attendance of 400 guests. Among the attendees were their two children, Nick, who was born in 1989, and Sophie, born in 1992. At the post-wedding celebration, Simmons and his fellow KISS members entertained the guests with a performance.
