Scott Weiland’s Family Pleads: ‘Don’t Glorify This Tragedy’

Scott Weiland, former Stone Temple Pilots frontman, has been almost as missed by his fans as by his family since his passing on December 3, but perhaps no one has expressed their grief as poignantly as the mother of Weiland’s teenage children. In an open letter, Mary Forsberg Weiland speaks out for herself and for the children the Stone Temple Pilots singer left behind.

Scott Weiland Leaves Behind A Legacy

Mary Forsberg Weiland is looking at Scott’s passing from a different perspective than the millions of Stone Temple Pilots fans grieving the loss of a talented singer. For Mary, she has Weiland’s two teenaged children to think about: Noah, 15, and Lucy, 13. Together with the Stone Temple Pilots singer’s children, Mary has penned an open letter to Scott, as well as to the fans that idolized him.

For Mary, as well as for Noah and Lucy, the loss of Scott Weiland was felt all too keenly many years ago. While Weiland was a musical sensation and nothing in his death, or his life, should diminish that, Mary says in her letter that his talents can never make up for his failings at home.

“The outpouring of condolences and prayers offered to our children, Noah and Lucy, has been overwhelming, appreciated and even comforting,” Mary Forsberg Weiland wrote, according to Rolling Stone. “But the truth is, like so many other kids, they lost their father years ago. What they truly lost on December 3rd was hope.”

While Mary’s letter may seem cold to some, having been released so soon after Weiland’s death, it paints a picture contrary to that which had been presented to Stone Temple Pilots fans for so long.

Drug-Fueled Paranoia Haunts The Stone Temple Pilots Singer

As Mary Forsberg Weiland continues penning her heartfelt letter, it becomes clear that she feels a unique anger toward Scott Weiland. It’s the kind of anger that only a mother could feel at seeing her children forever lose their father. As she expresses her thoughts, Mary reveals a Scott Weiland that most Stone Temple Pilots fans had thought long gone, the drug-addicted Weiland of the 90s.

Yahoo Music reports that Mary is quick to dispel us of this illusion. While, during his life, she felt obliged to help reinforce the idea that Scott had recovered, Mary now confesses it was all a ruse for the sake of her children. In fact, she reveals that Weiland has spent more time coping with paranoia and drug binges than with his children. She recounts tales of sitting the Stone Temple Pilots singer in cold showers and filling him with enough coffee just to get him sober and calm enough to sit through school events for Noah and Lucy.

Still, Mary says that she’s not writing this letter out of spite or a resentment, but instead hopes that others can learn from her family’s hardships:

“Our hope for Scott has died, but there is still hope for others. Let’s choose to make this first time we don’t glorify this tragedy with talk of rock ‘n’ roll and the demons that, by the way, don’t have to come with it. 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.”

Scott Weiland is gone, leaving behind two legacies: one good – his music – and one that could have been better – his reputation as a father. It could be that the Stone Temple Pilots singer is leaving behind something else as well. We could all stand to learn not to take for granted those closest to us and, if fans can take that lesson from Scott Weiland’s life, perhaps Mary Forsberg Weiland’s letter won’t have fallen on deaf ears.

[Featured image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]