Gene Simmons reflected on KISS bandmate Ace Frehley’s shocking death at age 74 while promoting his new horror movie Deep Water.
“There’s no reason in the world why Ace [isn’t here], he’s younger than I am,” Simmons, 76, exclusively told Us Weekly as he promoted his new film Deep Water. “It’s interesting. I use the present term sense, because Ace is always here.”
Us confirmed in November 2025 that an autopsy determined that Frehley suffered from a stroke and had a subdural hematoma caused by a fracture to the back of his skull. His death was ruled to be accidental.
In the years before his death, Frehley was open about his decades’ long struggles with alcoholism and drugs dating back to when he was just 13 years old. (The guitarist told Blabbermouth in 2024 that he had been sober for 18 years.)
Inside Kiss Guitarist Ace Frehley’s ‘Last Moments’ Prior to His Death at 74
“I kept telling [Ace] to his face, ‘You got to stop this stuff. You’re going to die sooner than you should,’” Simmons told Us. “It’s horrible, because when that happens, they think ‘Well, it’s my business.’ No, it’s not. You’ve got children, you’ve got a family, you’ve got fans, friends, you hurt everybody else. Death doesn’t just affect you. ‘It’s my life. I can do whatever I want.’ No, that’s not the way it works. So it’s very sad.”
Simmons admitted that he tries to choose his words carefully when discussing Frehley out of sensitivity for KISS fans.
“Almost anything I say will trigger the fans. They get very upset,” he acknowledged. “You know, mother and father are there when life is given and there’s a beautiful child and all and all of a sudden, because of a lifestyle, the father starts to shirk his duties and isn’t such a good provider, and starts making bad decisions in life, chemicals, alcohol, you know, all that stuff which makes him less of a father, which hurts the family and the children or his friends. And eventually he flakes out.”
Simmons continued, “Then, the mother, who’s always there with the family, has the responsibility or not [to consider], ‘Do I tell our children the truth that her father was a loser?’”
“He gave in to the weaknesses that society allows you to have drugs and alcohol and all that, and the children get hurt, and they wind up not loving their mother as much as they should because she told the truth,” Simmons argued. “You’d want this fairy tale idea, and fans are like that. I mean, I wouldn’t be here without the fans, but I’ve got to watch what I say, because they get triggered so fast. The truth is, without the alcohol and the drugs, Ace was just a pure soul who never said anything bad about anybody. But as soon as you succumb to drugs and alcohol, it’s Jekyll and Hyde, you become a different person.”
Frehley was an original member of KISS but famously quit the group multiple times over the years, last performing with them in 2002. The current lineup of KISS features Simmons on bass and vocals, fellow original member Paul Stanley on vocals and rhythm guitar, Tommy Thayer on lead guitar and Eric Singer on drums.
KISS officially retired from touring in 2023 with the conclusion of their End of the Road World Tour, which saw the hard rock pioneers perform in more than 30 countries over four years.
The band’s future includes a long-awaited biopic for Netflix, which is tentatively titled Shout It Out Loud and will be directed by Charlie’s Angels and The Babysitter’s McG, per NME.
Gene Simmons Blames Kiss Bandmate Ace Frehley’s Death on ‘Bad Decisions’
Asked who he wanted to play KISS in the movie, Simmons teased, “Somebody unknown, because I’d like the story to be the star, not the stars who make the story. There are actors who meld and become [their characters].”
Simmons has ventured into film producing with the new survival horror movie Deep Water, directed by Cliffhanger’s Renny Harlin and starring Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley and The Dark Knight actor Aaron Eckhart. Deep Water revolves around the survivors of a crashed Los Angeles-to-Shanghai flight who must fight for their lives in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
“Deep Water has the distinction and the honor of having Renny Harlin, a wonderful director who’s directed Die Hard 2, and, you know, he had another amazing shark film [1999’s Deep Blue Sea],” Simmons said. “And our cast, by the way, we have Sir Ben Kingsley, Aaron Eckhart, this is a stellar international cast. We also have some terrific Chinese actors and so on.”
The rocker praised Harlin for his hands-on approach throughout the filming of Deep Water.
“He hired everybody. His wife, Johanna [Kokkila], is also a production assistant, who we have, it’s so many extras, and of course, you have to interview the extras to make sure nobody is just looking at the camera the whole time. That doesn’t work,” Simmons noted. “So you had to have a really good, complete cast, because you’ve got hundreds of people on this giant plane, and then [Renny] was there from the very first until all the way to the last bit of film was edited, special effects and all this kind of stuff. “
Deep Water is in theaters now and will be available for streaming on digital retailers June 16.
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