Gene Simmons regrets not staging an intervention for Ace Frehley

Ace Frehley preforms with Gene Simmons at The Children Matter Benefit Concert Featuring Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Don Felder And Cheap Trick on September 2, 2017 at CHS Field Stadium in St Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images for The Children Matter)

KISS’ Gene Simmons is revealing his regrets regarding his late bandmate Ace Frehley, who passed away in October.

In an interview with the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast, Simmons opened up about his relationship with Frehley over the past 50 years, describing it as “up and down.”

“If you would’ve met Ace at the beginning — God bless him — you would’ve fallen in love with the idea, you know, who he is and all that,” Simmons said, noting their relationship began to decline when Frehley “turned to beverages and chemicals.”

He went on to discuss what he described as Frehley’s unreliable behavior during his KISS tenure, including Frehley not showing up to recording sessions and events. He revealed that he tried to talk Frehley out of his first KISS departure, noting “he never made smart decisions.”

Simmons said he regretted that he didn’t stage an intervention for Frehley decades ago and “forced him to understand he’s not just hurting himself by his lifestyle choices, but his family, his child and the fans.”

“It was a stupid and shameful decision on all our parts — I know mine too — is, ‘No, you don’t wanna get the fans upset. Let’s make believe he’s in the band and everything’s OK at home,’” he said, getting emotional. “And it, it’s tough. It’s really tough.”

Simmons said he knows fans aren’t going to be happy with his comments.

“But the kids at home don’t understand that. They never met and spent time with Ace,” he said, noting that when Frehley was clean he was “lovable, everything’s great.” However, “when the stuff started to take hold, it was Jekyll and Hyde. You just can’t make smart decisions when you’re drunk or high.”