2007.07.21 - E! True Hollywood Story - Rock Star Wives (Slash, Duff, Gilby)

Transcript:
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Susan Holmes-McKagan: I enjoy sharing my husband, Duff, with the world, but sometimes… Sometimes, you know, it's not the right exact moment maybe, maybe you want to have a nice quiet night out.

Slash: There has been some instances where, you know, I'm like, “I'm with my family right now. Can you give it a break?” And they just don't get it, you know? And then what do is you just sort of try and be as polite as possible, you know, because it's either really polite or I'm gonna lose it.

Perla Ferrar: There has been a few times with some bitches [and] I've had to set them straight, but I have 100 [per cent] complete total faith in my husband and I know that he would never do anything to disrespect me. Because he knows I'll castrate him.

Duff: In my twenties, I didn't think I'd live till 30 and I was totally fine with that - you know, “live fast, die young.” So I was living it to the fullest.

Voice-over: The family of Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan tried to intervene.

Duff: Back in, like, ’93, I was in Guns N’ Roses and we’d just played the Kingdome in Seattle, arguably the pinnacle of my career, and so one of my brothers came down and picked me up at the hotel and stopped by mom’s on the way. I was like, “Okay cool.” We got to mom’s and my whole family was there, and there was a woman sitting in the corner. I didn't recognize who that woman was and maybe it was an intervention try. And I got up and I ran, and my oldest brother stood in the doorway, and I knocked him out of the way and just bolted, caught a cab.

Perla: You can't do it because someone pulled an intervention on you, you can't do it because someone cried to you and you had to go to rehab, or because you have children, or because of anything. You have to do it because you want to. And then you will continue it because you want to. It takes a lot of strength.

Duff: When I hit 30, my pancreas basically expanded and burst. The doctor said, you know, “You got two choices. You can be sober and live or you can continue to drink; we can't force you to stop.” And, you know, the thought has been bumps in the road with me. Now that I’m married and with kids, Susan's been right there and she knows enough about me to know it's, like, a really dangerous place and she's sometimes scared for me, you know, but she's always helpful.

Susan: I've learned a lot about sobriety and what it entails, and what you can do to be of the most help. He really pulled it together quite fast considering how serious his drug and alcohol addiction was, and how easily and fast you can slip back into that.

Perla: If you get married to buy into a lifestyle or if you get married because you want to be married to so-and-so, it's going to [bleep] fail. The day that either one of us do want to go with somebody else is a day that it's over between us, and we're pretty honest with each other.

Duff: It's that kind of the animal thing, that feedback between you and the audience. But, you know, I certainly don't like to walk in the house and spit on the floor.

Perla: Slash on stage is bigger than life. It's all about him when he's on stage.

Slash: Perla is like my alter ego. She's the personality that I don’t have (laughs).

Perla: At home, he takes a backseat to things and he's the sweetest. He's very shy, but truly genuine.

Voice-over: Some rock star couples combine the best of both worlds by turning touring into a family affair.

Susan: It’s because it’s like the world's greatest field trip when they get to go on tour with us. They get to see things that they'd only get to read about and they get to truly experience them.

Perla: It’s a different city every day. And, with small children, right now for them it's an adventure. We're the true rock ‘n’ roll family.

[Cut to archive footage

Gilby: We've been doing this forever and now that we have a daughter, it's like, she just kind of comes with us. It's like, when we go out on road, she's been on more tour buses than most kids, you know?

Daniella Clarke: She took her first walking steps on a moving tour bus.]

Susan: I'd sell my own swimsuits. When I was pregnant with Grace, it was a creative outlet for me. Then I didn't even know if I'd sell one bathing suit and then, before I knew it, you know, it was doing quite well. I give them that distance to be who they are and where they need to be to feel happy. It's as simple as that.

Perla: Marriage is a freaking commitment. And you have to say that you’re willing and able to give it 100% and nothing else matters.