Many stories have surface about Lou Reed since his passing from publicists and journalists stating he was intimidating and usually short tempered. Former Rolling Stone editor, and journalist, Ben Fong-Torres recounts how lucky he was when he interviewed him.
Ben Fong-Torres spoke to the Hollywood Reporter about interviewing Reed for a piece on GQ in 1986. He calls him the anti-interview; even Reed's publicist stated,"He doesn't respect the press because it hasn't helped." Fong-Torres says he started off the interview asking Reed about the uselessness of the print medium, and Reed answered, "I've had the best reviews in the world and the worst ones. I've had reviews that say, 'Why don't you just die?,' and it hasn't seemed to make a difference." Reed states he often learned more from fan letters; "A lot of times, what they say is illuminating to me 'cause they take something in a way I literally wasn't aware of. I'm not the expert on my own work."
The article for GQ (September 1986) was titled "Lou Reed: The Prince Of Darkness Lightens Up". During the interview Reed also talks about his glam-rock days with David Bowie, and a transgender live-in friend "Rachel". Fong-Torres lastly states "On this occasion, he was a nice guy. That's how I'll remember him." Many celebrities and musicians took to Twitter commenting on what Reed meant to them as well.