Epress.am News from Armenia
Though Steven Tyler has openly admitted to abusing drugs in the past, he assured the world this morning that his recent bathtub slipping incident most definitely did not involve a relapse. As he explained on NBC’s Today show, he only “started to get sick,” and then “just fell on [his] face.”
“[‘Substance abuse] is not the issue,” said Tyler during a call into Matt Lauer yesterday morning on “Today” from Buenos Aires.
“People thinking that is natural and normal, it still bothers me,” said the “American Idol” judge, who went public a few months ago about tripping on his 12 steps. “But it’s something I have to deal with for the rest of my life.
“We flew last night from Paraguay after that incident and (now) we’re in Argentina for two hours. And anyone knows anyone who uses substances wouldn’t be up at this hour having a talk with Matt Lauer and the rest of America.”
Tyler’s tumble in the shower, he explained, was caused by a bout of “Montezuma’s Revenge” which is known to leave its victims dehydrated, the Boston Herald reports.
“I got nauseous and started to get sick,” the rocker told the NBC morning man. “I fell on my face and just passed out. I woke up with the water running on me and I didn’t know where the hell I was.
“Next thing I know my tour manager was calling the American Embassy, we found the best hospital and it was like one-stop shopping,” said the frontman, who had four stitches over his eye, some plastic surgery and a tooth implant before he hit the stage during his make-up concert in Paraguay on Wednesday night.
“Short of having my leg torn off, people are going to expect me to hit the stage no matter what,” said Steven, who managed to rock out on the harmonica during the concert, despite a new tooth and a busted lip. “I pulled myself up by my bootheels, and went out on stage, wore my sunglasses for the first song, and I took ’em off and the crowd roared because they knew that I had fallen down.
“Not only did I break my face, but the next night we broke the house record,” he said.
Aerosmith hits the stage tonight in La Plata, Argentina, and Sunday in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The band will tour through South America and Japan until Dec. 10. Steven’s sophomore season of “American Idol” premieres Jan. 22.