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Gene Simmons And Katey Sagal: Inside Their Surprising ‘70s Love Affair

By Victoria Miller
Published on: 00:40 PST, Mar 21, 2017

Gene Simmons is known for his long list of lovers, but her is one fans probably didn’t see coming. Simmons was reportedly in an on and off relationship with actress Katey Sagal. The Sons of Anarchy actress wrote about her romance with the KISS rocker in her new memoir Grace Notes: My Recollections.

According to the New York Daily News, Sagal first met Gene Simmons when she waited on him when she was working in a Santa Monica restaurant in the early 1970s while pursuing a career as a singer. The then-20-year-old worked with several future music stars, including Ricki Lee Jones and Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo. But her life changed when Gene Simmons walked into the L.A. area eatery.

According to the Post, Simmons strolled into the restaurant after a KISS show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1974. Gene was persuasive enough to pick up the young waitress after she waited on him. At the time, ’70 supergroup KISS was still relatively unknown, so Gene, who wasn’t wearing the band’s signature makeup, didn’t have to use his star power to get the girl. The actress wrote that Simmons flirted with her, and she, in turn, sang for him. She ended up taking him home that night “because he was quite persuasive, and I like men.”

In her book, the actress, who has been married to SoA creator Kurt Sutter since 2004, revealed that Simmons wasn’t her usual type, but that he inspired her in a unique way. The future Married With Children star’s career got a major boost when Simmons joined her the next day for her band’s rehearsal. Simons was impressed, so he introduced the band to Casablanca Records president Neil Bogart, who signed the group on the spot.

“I thought Gene was really weird,” the actress wrote, adding that she also thought “he was cute and had a lot of confidence.”

While Sagal’s debut record bombed, she went on to sing backup on Gene Simmons’ 1978 self-titled solo album, and her fling with the rock star continued for several years, although it was far from monogamous.

Gene Simmons has long boasted that he has slept with as many as 5,000 women, but Katey seemingly turned a blind eye until she got a major wake-up call after finding hundreds of Polaroid pictures of Gene’s other lovers stashed in his New York apartment.

“I fantasized that I would be the exception,” the actress wrote in her book.

Sagal later began dating another musician and accepted his marriage proposal, but not before running it past Gene Simmons first. Simmons reportedly laughed after she told him she’d turn down the other guy’s proposal if he wanted to marry her instead. While the romance didn’t end on a high note, Kate took Gene’s advice to never give up her career ambitions for a man.

This is not the first time Katey has talked about her relationship with Gene Simmons, but it is by far the most detail she has ever given about it. She previously talked about her tryst with Gene Simmons on the Howard Stern Show in 2012. According to the KISS Asylum website, Katey revealed that Gene Simmons was “instrumental in helping me,” and she admitted that she had sex with the KISS rocker after Stern relentlessly grilled her on the subject. But she stopped short of saying she was ever in love with Gene.

“He really noticed my talent,” Sagal said of Simmons. “I didn’t fall in love with him but I had a big crush on him.”

Katey Sagal is not the only famous woman Gene Simmons has been involved with. Gene previously had serious relationships with Cher and Diana Ross.

On his A&E reality show Gene Simmons: Family Jewels, Simmons once remarked that he had bedded 4,897 women. When TV Guide asked the rock legend to confirm the astronomical number of women he slept with, Simmons replied: “A lot of them didn’t get a lot of sleep, but that’s a good guess.”

Gene Simmons, who has been in a relationship with ex-Playboy model Shannon Tweed for nearly 30 years, also gave his take on monogamy.

“All relationships are open,” Gene said.

“Don’t believe there’s any difference between a monogamous and a polygamous relationship. Those are all just big words, like ‘gymnasium.’ Human beings will do whatever the hell they want to do. [But] they lie about it because they think they have to answer to somebody.”

Still, Simmons did answer to his longtime partner when she demanded that he get rid of all evidence of his thousands of conquests. Gene told The Sun that Tweed made him burn the Polaroids of the nearly 5,000 women he slept with at a bonfire at their L.A. home that went on for days.

“I didn’t do drugs in the crazy times but I did do sex,” Gene told The Sun. “Did I sleep with 4,800 women? So they tell me. I did have the Polaroids to prove it, oh yes. But most of them were burned. Shannon and I got together with them and we had a ritual.”

Gene Simmons has not commented on his former flame’s book. But then again, did you really think he was the type of guy to KISS and tell?

Take a look at the video below to see Katey Sagal talking about how Gene Simmons helped her back in the day.

[Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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