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Adler's Mom Details 'Manipulated' 'Celebrity Rehab' Encounter


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Last month, Steven Adler finally broke his silence and explained why his role on the Guns N' Roses reunion tour was limited to a handful of brief appearances. Speaking with the One On One With Mitch Lafon podcast, the drummer said it was his understanding that he'd play on all the Appetite For Destruction material during the entire tour, but that ended when he hurt his back during rehearsals. "Duff called me and said, 'Dude, you're not gonna play with us anymore,'" Adler said. "'You're not gonna do these shows.' And I was, like, 'You're the worst fucking person in the world.'"

When Adler got on the phone with Rolling Stone a few weeks later, he was less willing to share anything about Guns N' Roses. "I had the best experience last year playing with them last year," he says. "I wish Izzy [Stradlin] was there, but it was so great since I finally got to have some closure. It was wonderful. I don't have nothing else to say about it. I'm really sorry. That's all I can tell you. There's nothing to say. I literally, literally honest to god literally, I can't even tell you why I can't tell you any more. Literally, okay? I really can't. I just can't."

Adler was speaking on Sweet Child of Mine: How I Lost My Son to Guns N' Roses, his mother's new book chronicling Adler's tumultuous childhood, his early days in the band and and the endless agony of his decades-long drug addiction. "I'm afraid to read it," says Adler. "I've only read three books in my life, but one day I will read it just to see what I put her through."

Adler's mother Deanna wrote the book with Lawrence J. Spagnola, who also helped the drummer with his book My Appetite for Destruction: Sex & Drugs & Guns N' Roses. "The reason that I wrote the book was because I want other mothers out there to know that they're not alone," she says. "I always thought I was alone that nobody else had a son that was a drug addict."

In this exclusive excerpt, Deanna Adler talks about her appearance on VH1's Celebrity Rehab. 

On June 16, 2008, I received a phone call from the producers of Celebrity Rehab. Unbelievably, they wanted me to come in and visit Steven, who, as I stated, had become the most powerfully charismatic presence on the show. In fact, he was such an audience magnet that VH1 decided to cash in on his immense popularity by developing a new spin-off show.

The result was that VH1 launched Sober House. The show would go on to be another ratings hit. But it was obvious that VH1 judged this show’s success not by the number of drug addicts it rehabilitated, but by the number of eyeballs it attracted. What upset me most was the obvious fatal flaw in both shows: if an addict needed the glare of a national television audience to rehabilitate, then they were doomed from the start.

No one could get permanently clean in a fishbowl. Did no one else understand this? That's why the show has never tracked the number of cast members who have gotten sober and stayed sober. It should have be called Hollywood Rehab because like most reality shows, it was a manipulated farce.

The producers asked me to appear during the show’s "Family Weekend" episode. I was floored and more than a little skeptical. Steven and I hadn't spoken in over four months. What made them think he would break his silence? I was sure Dr. Drew knew all about our present status and yet they insisted my appearance would be therapeutic.

———

I arrived at the recovery center where they clipped a tiny wireless microphone to my blouse powered by a battery pack attached behind me. They led me into a large well-lit open room. At first, I was very happy to be there, but a moment later I had a premonition, one of foreboding as I looked up to see Dr. Drew and another doctor sitting with Steven. The way they were seated and their body language immediately signaled that this was going to be more of an interrogation than a reunion.

Steven's expression confirmed my fears and I knew this was a set-up. His face was serene enough, but his eyes were filled with rage. I swallowed hard and almost began to cry, but was just able to keep my emotions in check. I heard Dr. Drew tell Steven to give me a hug. We embraced, but it was an awkward, half-hearted gesture on both our parts. Then we took a step back, and since Steven didn't utter a word I felt obliged to do so.

Big mistake. I told Steven he looked good. It was true, his complexion was rosy and his eyes were clear, but when he looked at me his eyes narrowed. He immediately became confrontational. He accused me of "always saying I look good, even when I’m high." I felt the blood pound up through my neck, but held my ground. I said that was not true, because it wasn't.

Then we sat down and all hell broke loose. I could swear I saw the other doctor offer Steven a very subtle approving nod. He may as well have smacked his lips. It was feeding time at the zoo. Instead of trying to make amends, Steven and the other doctor tore into me with vicious accusations. They revisited the day [Steven's stepfather] Mel banished Steven from our home, condemning me for such a heartless act that doomed Steven, ruining his self-worth and branding him with abandonment issues that would cripple him for life.

I asked them about [Steven's brother] Jamie and his right to a nurturing environment. I pointed out that Jamie was a very precocious, impressionable child and that as a loving and caring mother I had to protect him from Steven's bad influences. It wasn't just the cursing and screaming; it was the drug paraphernalia, the pornography and the drinking. This destructive behavior would only prove to be more and more damaging to Jamie. Faced with this situation, I asked the doctors what else could I have done as a responsible parent? It was Steven who had left his parents completely exasperated with no other choice. This caused Steven literally to throw his arms up and walk out. He did this twice during our session, and both times Dr. Drew had to go out and get him to come back into the room. Why so much drama? What was the point?

I admired Dr. Drew that day. I thought he was balanced in his responses and even-handed in dealing with both of us. But it was easy to appear fair in the wake of the other two pit bulls. The other doctor was only there to side with Steven and say things to instigate ill feelings between the two of us, fanning the flames by creating animosity. I guess he knew Steven’s theatrics would only jack up the ratings for the show. What a jerk.

Afterward, I was proud that I had fought back and hadn't buckled under a lot of groundless accusations. I felt I had calmly but compellingly proved my point on the importance of providing a secure and nurturing home for Jamie. Backstage, some of the crew spoke kindly to me. They told me they now understood how impossible my situation had been with Mel, Jamie and Steven. After a few minutes, they took me back to the hotel saying they would call me in the morning to let me know what time I should come back for the official family gathering.

But a few hours later, after I had returned to my room, they called to say that Steven didn't want me at the family outing. I told the producer I understood, that there were no hard feelings, and to tell Steven that I loved him. Then I requested that I be flown back to Las Vegas that night.

Although it hurt to be attacked and humiliated on national television, I tried to put the entire experience behind me. But I can still feel, to this very day, the way my ears burned and my heart pounded as Steven and the doctor ganged up on me. I thought about the producer who had told me Steven wanted to reconcile and just shook my head.

It was so unfair to ambush me and had I even a moment beforehand to prepare or think how best to cope with the situation, I would not have minded the attack nearly as much. The fact that some of the crew backstage quietly sided with me meant a lot. And once I was back home, a few friends called to tell me that although it was obviously a hatchet job, I had handled myself well.

Of course, it aired as a pitifully one-sided segment. The producers of Celebrity Rehab edited it all down to air only the most confrontational, sensationalistic pro-Steven crap for the show. All the truthful, legitimate points I had made about Steven's manipulative, abusive behavior were taken out. Steven was made to look like the victim. I was forced to endure all the devastating moments, including Steven’s obscenity-laced rants over the damage I had inflicted upon him at a tender age. It made me look selfish, wicked, heartless and completely wrong. No judge, no jury, and no mercy. Guilty.

If this was what audiences have been watching, I hope they're aware that it’s all twisted to maximize the drama at the cost of the truth.

Even the title is misleading. They're not celebrities; they're chemically-dependent wannabes desperately clinging to their fading 15 minutes of years past; whatever the producers can dredge up from the Hollywood has-been bin.

When the episode finally aired, I thought I could weather it but soon became a basket case. They ran a mean-spirited, provocative promo for the "Family Weekend" episode. It contained the most humiliating scene, where Steven threw up his hands in disgust and walked out on me the second time. The spot was shown incessantly on every network and major cable channel for weeks ahead of the broadcast date. The calls kept flooding in, and some of them were shattering. One woman remarked, I had to be the most hated mother in America.

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/steven-adlers-mom-talks-drummers-drug-battles-w472055

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40 minutes ago, auad said:

I asked them about [Steven's brother] Jamie and his right to a nurturing environment. I pointed out that Jamie was a very precocious, impressionable child and that as a loving and caring mother I had to protect him from Steven's bad influences. It wasn't just the cursing and screaming; it was the drug paraphernalia, the pornography and the drinking. This destructive behavior would only prove to be more and more damaging to Jamie. 

What a nightmare. So sad and horrible for any family to go through that.

Thanks for posting.

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3 minutes ago, Jane M. said:

What a nightmare. So sad and horrible for any family to go through that.

Thanks for posting.

Yeah it would be really horrible

After finishing College my mom had joined Candle making summer classes, so the woman who used to teach, her son was a drug addict, so once he came and went crazy on everyone, so the teacher and her students, including my mom, they had to lock themselves in a room and that guy kept on banging the door.

My mom said it was really scary, he just kept on banging for 1 hour and was shouting and asking money for drugs. 

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What a fucked up family. No shit going on a TV show for your addiction would be a terrible idea. Fuck Hollywood, man, its no secret all this shit is made to attract ratings. Steven and the other "celebrity addicts" were mere tools for the network.... duh. That being said, it is sad that anyone has to go through this shit. I totally believe his mom is manipulating what happened during the reunion and his lack of participation to reel him into promoting her shitty book.

Steven is a basket case, we all know that. His mom and family seem crazy, and I'm sure they're all part of the problem as to why he grew up the way he did. This book shouldn't exist imo, and it has really convenient timing considering what band is in the spotlight again. Axl was sort of right in his chat when he brought up that anything involving Steven could be a problem and it would involve his mother. Seems like that is exactly what happened. I STILL think Steven should have been given a chance to participate more in the reunion. It is genuinely all he seemed to want in terms of his career, and it isn't because of the fame and shit. He just lives and breathes for the AfD days. He's the high school football star that never did anything else. Its sad, but true. He speaks his mind in interviews (for better or worse) and is highly unpredictable. Its more genuine than NDAs and lawyer shit, but I guess you can see why those things are necessary for the multi-million dollar, corporate extravaganza that is NITL. All that bullshit aside, he was part of AfD so he should have been given more of a chance. I would suspect something dumb happened leading up to The Troubadour show, but Izzy's few statements continue to make me feel like it is just money and personal bullshit. As I keep saying, if he fucked up then Frank would have been right there to keep the machine going.

Its Steven fucking Adler, he's a huge part of GNR's fucked up lore and I wish him the best. As great as NITL is for me, I still maintain that its a damn shame they couldn't do the reunion completely right. Ah well, eat it up. This tour will probably go well into 2018 with the same setlist and then that'll be it (maybe with the occasional, nostalgia based, arena trek). A great, but sort of half-assed, finish to the GNR story. Hope I'm wrong.

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17 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

What a fucked up family. No shit going on a TV show for your addiction would be a terrible idea. Fuck Hollywood, man, its no secret all this shit is made to attract ratings. Steven and the other "celebrity addicts" were mere tools for the network.... duh. That being said, it is sad that anyone has to go through this shit. I totally believe his mom is manipulating what happened during the reunion and his lack of participation to reel him into promoting her shitty book.

Steven is a basket case, we all know that. His mom and family seem crazy, and I'm sure they're all part of the problem as to why he grew up the way he did. This book shouldn't exist imo, and it has really convenient timing considering what band is in the spotlight again. Axl was sort of right in his chat when he brought up that anything involving Steven could be a problem and it would involve his mother. Seems like that is exactly what happened. I STILL think Steven should have been given a chance to participate more in the reunion. It is genuinely all he seemed to want in terms of his career, and it isn't because of the fame and shit. He just lives and breathes for the AfD days. He's the high school football star that never did anything else. Its sad, but true. He speaks his mind in interviews (for better or worse) and is highly unpredictable. Its more genuine than NDAs and lawyer shit, but I guess you can see why those things are necessary for the multi-million dollar, corporate extravaganza that is NITL. All that bullshit aside, he was part of AfD so he should have been given more of a chance. I would suspect something dumb happened leading up to The Troubadour show, but Izzy's few statements continue to make me feel like it is just money and personal bullshit. As I keep saying, if he fucked up then Frank would have been right there to keep the machine going.

Its Steven fucking Adler, he's a huge part of GNR's fucked up lore and I wish him the best. As great as NITL is for me, I still maintain that its a damn shame they couldn't do the reunion completely right. Ah well, eat it up. This tour will probably go well into 2018 with the same setlist and then that'll be it (maybe with the occasional, nostalgia based, arena trek). A great, but sort of half-assed, finish to the GNR story. Hope I'm wrong.

I suppose it might depend on what the band see this as. Fans are wanting a happy story book ending and the band may not want an ending at all. They could be just moving on to the next stage of their life. Hit it until you fall over the cliff.

If they are planning on this being the end then hopefully they give us the storybook ending. If they are just living the next day of their lives with no plans then hopefully a near future day will include Steven and Izzy.

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1 minute ago, sanity_lost said:

I suppose it might depend on what the band see this as. Fans are wanting a happy story book ending and the band may not want an ending at all. They could be just moving on to the next stage of their life. Hit it until you fall over the cliff.

If they are planning on this being the end then hopefully they give us the storybook ending. If they are just living the next day of their lives with no plans then hopefully a near future day will include Steven and Izzy.

Yeah, I guess I don't care anymore. Last year was really good for me as a GNR fan. Could care less if they just tour off nostalgia now since at least they have most of the band back together. New music and Steven/Izzy would all be welcome, but it is what it is now

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55 minutes ago, NachoLZ said:

What if making him think he was gonna be the drummer was a plan to keep him in silence and not talking shit about the reunion of the big 3 ?

Never crossed my mind and you may be on to something there. 

I sure hope they are not as mean as to keep promising empty hopes to Steven, with the intention of never fulfilling them... I'm afraid of the consequences.... :nervous:

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6 hours ago, Fitha_whiskey said:

Train wreck. How anyone could think it could possibly work with Steven in the band full time is beyond me. No chance in hell.

 

Come on, there's more than a few on here to answer this ^ ...?

At least the guy's still getting royalties and living well enough.

 

 

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8 hours ago, Asia said:

Lol, he read three books in his life, lol. And he hasn't read the book about him that he is so eagerly promoting. Lol. And people are insisting everything's right with his head and he acts very sensibly. Really there's plenty of things I can eagerly blame the big three for but not wanting this guy on tour on a permanent basis isn't one of them. It really can't be...

although its dumb to admit to reading 3 books in your life 

its not a prerequisite for being a more than competent and the most groove led drummer the band has ever had 

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Just now, double talkin jive mfkr said:

although its dumb to admit to reading 3 books in your life 

its not a prerequisite for being a more than competent and the most groove led drummer the band has ever had 

Yeah, right, but the problem is you can't take just his hands and legs on tour...

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On 16.3.2017 at 10:38 PM, Jane M. said:
On 16.3.2017 at 9:45 PM, auad said:

I asked them about [Steven's brother] Jamie and his right to a nurturing environment. I pointed out that Jamie was a very precocious, impressionable child and that as a loving and caring mother I had to protect him from Steven's bad influences. It wasn't just the cursing and screaming; it was the drug paraphernalia, the pornography and the drinking. This destructive behavior would only prove to be more and more damaging to Jamie. 

What a nightmare. So sad and horrible for any family to go through that.

Thanks for posting.

On 16.3.2017 at 10:45 PM, Słash said:

Yeah it would be really horrible

After finishing College my mom had joined Candle making summer classes, so the woman who used to teach, her son was a drug addict, so once he came and went crazy on everyone, so the teacher and her students, including my mom, they had to lock themselves in a room and that guy kept on banging the door.

My mom said it was really scary, he just kept on banging for 1 hour and was shouting and asking money for drugs. 

 

Uuuh... this doesn't add up. Steven was somewhere in the 11-14 range (depending on who's telling the story) when she kicked him out of the house and his mother keeps saying in every interview how Steven didn't do hard drugs until he was in Guns n Roses. She's contradicting herself here. How much "drug paraphernalia" could an 11-14 year old who supposedly wasn't really doing drugs yet (at least nothing serious) have lying around? Same for the "pornography". Stuff like this was much harder to get back then than it is today and how much of it could a kid that age really have managed to get his hands on? Couple of dirty mags, probably.

Bunch of bullshit like everything Adler and his mom have come up with recently. The entire family is fucked up.

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Asia said:

Yes, this exactly. Also, what kind of a **** you have to be to consider it normal and perfectly justifiable that if your kid (a real kid, we're not talking 17 or 18 years of age) has some kind of problems (that is if watching porn mags at this age could be considered a problem at all), the proper thing to do is to throw him out of the house and let him fall into the hands of all the wrong people and ruin his life or die because you don't want him to infect the other kid you like better with his evilness...

Jesus, and that woman is not ashamed to say this, in fact she's not ashamed of it at all, she even feels a victim... That's enraging.

Of course, the truth is obvious - she had another man and another child and the man did not want to raise a little bastard and didn't want his son to have anything to do with bad-behaving little bastard so he kicked him out of the house and the mother had nothing against that since she probably didn't give a shit about anything other than the guy's dick. She only got interested again when she began to smell some real money. That woman is truely pathethic and the fact that Steven is supporting her book now, even without reading it, only means his brain has deterioted much further even since his experience with dr Drew.

Hit the nail on the head with this. His mom didn't give a shit about him until he got famous with Guns. 

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36 minutes ago, Stoymatic said:

Why does Steve love dr drew if he just used him for ratings? I don't understand 

The ratings are a network thing.

Dr. Drew does do everything he can to help these guys. Unfortunately many of them are too far gone that they relapse or die. Mike Starr, Doc Gooden etc

its not fair to say he only does it for ratings and notoriety. It's part of it but not his sole reason for doing it. Dr. Drew is a huge part of the reason why Steven has remained sober from hard drugs and alcohol this long. That and Steven's dream of playing in his band again

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I wonder if Dr. Drew sees the toxic dynamics of the environment Steven was brought up in? Maybe he does but doesn't want to rock the boat. Imo he needs to get Steven & his mom in a room and release all the tension for good which Steven said is a beautiful thing. This way then can really close the book, move forward and start a new day

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8 hours ago, Top-Hatted One said:

I wonder if Dr. Drew sees the toxic dynamics of the environment Steven was brought up in? Maybe he does but doesn't want to rock the boat. Imo he needs to get Steven & his mom in a room and release all the tension for good which Steven said is a beautiful thing. This way then can really close the book, move forward and start a new day

I dunno, sometimes family therapy can work out, and other times it just doesn't. I hate to be a downer but in my experience it's a hit or miss depending on the individual family situation. 

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9 hours ago, Stoymatic said:

Why does Steve love dr drew if he just used him for ratings? I don't understand 

I don't know. I really don't like Dr. Drew. He seems to take advantage of vulnerable people with real issues who really would benefit in an off-television treatment situation. Not that these people aren't getting legit treatment on his show, but do these at-risk individuals really need all that exposure? I feel like the exposure could be detrimental in itself. 

tl;dr I think Dr. Drew is a quack, find a new addition doctor. 

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20 hours ago, L'HopitalsRule said:

I don't know. I really don't like Dr. Drew. He seems to take advantage of vulnerable people with real issues who really would benefit in an off-television treatment situation. Not that these people aren't getting legit treatment on his show, but do these at-risk individuals really need all that exposure? I feel like the exposure could be detrimental in itself. 

tl;dr I think Dr. Drew is a quack, find a new addition doctor. 

I agree with this completely, and I don't think any doctor who truly had his or her patients' best interests in mind would ever suggest putting them on TV to work out their addiction issues. I feel that shows like Celebrity Rehab are incredibly exploitative. They're taking people who are in very vulnerable places, who are in some cases probably desperate for money and who perhaps are not making sound decisions at that point. They're using those people's issues for profit. It's trainwreck syndrome at its worst. 
 

 

 

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