During an appearance on the Appetite For Distortion Scott Weiland 's widow spoke about the musician's legacy almost nine years after the Stone Temple Pilots vocalist's death.
Weiland was found dead on his tour bus for his solo project, The Wildabouts, in December 2015, at the age of 48. At the time, it was reported that he had died of an overdose. Now, his widow has explained that this conclusion was incorrect.
Photographer Jamie Wachtel Weiland said (via Blabbermouth ): “I feel he doesn’t get the praise, respect and recognition that he absolutely deserves. That’s tragic, but of course, [everyone thinks] he overdosed – which he didn’t (…) I tried to make [that] clear. Because he had drugs in his system, the coroner had to conclude [it was] an overdose.”
Then she goes on to explain what happened to Weiland: “But the truth is that Scott died because the main artery of his left ventricle was 95% blocked. This came from 10 years of heroin use, which came from a lifetime of heavy smoking. His heart stopped. Did he have drugs in his system? Yes. Did I know he had relapsed? No, I didn't know. He lied to me because I had caught him before [using drugs] and it would have been a huge fight and I would have been furious with him.”
She said that when she spoke with the coroner, she mentioned that she didn't know he had relapsed into drug use, which disappointed her, but he comforted her by saying that he hadn't used drugs until he overdosed. "He wasn't using heroin. His heart stopped because he suffered a lot of abuse due to his previous drug use, smoking, and heavy drinking," he revealed.
Jamie also commented on the comments she has received since her husband's death about her not giving him the support he needed: “People can say whatever they want about things I did or didn't do. But the truth is, I did pretty much all the heavy lifting with him. I was alone with him trying to keep him safe and calm and getting him to the right doctors and getting him on stage, getting him to rehearsals.”
She went on to say that she no longer reads the comments and articles written about him because "nobody knows what happened."
A January 2016 report from Billboard (via Blabbermouth ) revealed that Scott was dealing with hepatitis C, mental illness, and learning that his parents had cancer in the final months of his life. The article featured interviews with Jamie, his mother Sharon, his Wildabouts bandmates Tommy Black and Nick Maybury, tour manager Aaron Mohler , and others.
Jamie told Billboard that Scott had been experiencing episodes of paranoia and mania caused by bipolar disorder. She explained, “At one point, it got so bad that I had to move because he was unstable.” Eventually, they found a medication that leveled him out, with Jamie adding, “In recent years, he was doing very well.”
In addition to Stone Temple Pilots and Wildabouts, Weiland also fronted Velvet Revolver from 2004 to 2008. He returned to STP in 2008 after a six-year hiatus, but was fired in 2013.
READ ALSO: Scott Weiland's son from Stone Temple Pilots releases unreleased demo track by his father.
