After 28 years, Gene Simmons finally tied the knot with Shannon Tweed in 2011. KISS’ bassist and vocalist had reservations about being tied down and having a family, so it took him almost three decades to finally have the courage to ask his long-time partner Tweed to be his wife. On the Club Random Podcast, Simmons gave the back story of how he eventually got down on one knee and was ready to take the next step.
Like many couples in the industry, their relationship had quite a few ups and downs. In the early days, Simmons said, “It was never vitriol, and it was never sort of that physical stuff. But there’s no question that in the 29 years that Shannon and I were together, before we got married, because I was just, for the record, arrogant, self-absorbed, just an as*hole who was only thinking about myself.”
When he met Shannon, Gene Simmons was enjoying the prime years of his career with KISS and loved the party scene and the L.A. lifestyle, so he hesitated to commit as he didn’t want to let go of his ways. Also, having gotten used to being independent and doing whatever he wanted wasn’t something he was ready to give up.
While explaining how he once viewed marriage, the bassist recalled, “Why did you do this? Because I wanted to do it. Where are you going? Where am I going? Who wants to know? It was that sort of thing. I was even arrogant enough to give Shannon a piece of paper that said, ‘Full disclosure I never want to get married; I never want to have kids. We can live together, but I don’t want to be told what to do,’ like full upfront.”
Eventually, after 28 years of being together, welcoming their two children, Nick and Sophie, the musician reached a point where he was ready to walk down the aisle. Gene finally proposed to Shannon on their reality show ‘Gene Simmons’ Family Jewels’ in 2011, and they got married soon after in an over-the-top Beverly Hills wedding with their two kids by their sides.
