Scott Weiland's family, including his former wife Mary Weiland and their two kids, Noah, 15, and Lucy, 13, have penned an open letter published in Rolling Stone magazine, asking fans not to "glorify" the tragedy of the late singer's death and revealing that the children lost their father years before his passing.
The former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman died in his sleep while touring with his band in Bloomington, Minn. on Dec. 3, as HNGN previously reported.
The cause of death has not yet been confirmed, but cocaine was found on the tour bus where his lifeless body was discovered.
In the emotional letter, the musician's family talks about the struggles they faced with Scott Weiland's drug addiction. "December 3rd, 2015 is not the day Scott Weiland died. It is the official day the public will use to mourn him, and it was the last day he could be propped up in front of a microphone for the financial benefit or enjoyment of others," Mary Weiland wrote, according to Rolling Stone. "The outpouring of condolences and prayers offered to our children, Noah and Lucy, has been overwhelming, appreciated and even comforting. But the truth is, like so many other kids, they lost their father years ago. What they truly lost on December 3rd was hope."
"I won't say he can rest now, or that he's in a better place," she added. "He belongs with his children barbecuing in the backyard and waiting for a Notre Dame game to come on. We are angry and sad about this loss, but we are most devastated that he chose to give up."
"Even after Scott and I split up, I spent countless hours trying to calm his paranoid fits, pushing him into the shower and filling him with coffee, just so that I could drop him into the audience at Noah's talent show, or Lucy's musical," Mary Weiland wrote. "Those short encounters were my attempts at giving the kids a feeling of normalcy with their dad."
The letter concludes with a plea to parents to keep trying and never give up. "Progress, not perfection, is what your children are praying for," the letter reads before encouraging fans not to glorify his death with rock and roll and do everything in their power to ensure their children don't suffer like her kids do.
"Let's choose to make this the first time we don't glorify this tragedy with talk of rock and roll and the demons that, by the way, don't have to come with it," she continued. "Skip the depressing T-shirt with 1967-2015 on it - use the money to take a kid to a ballgame or out for ice cream."
Read the full letter HERE.
