Mary Forsberg Weiland, the ex-wife of the late singer Scott Weiland and the mother of his two teenage children, wrote an emotional and heartbreaking essay about the former Stone Temple Pilots frontman.
The essay was published by Rolling Stone on Monday and comes after Weiland’s death on Dec. 3. He was only 48 years old. While no cause of death has been determined, police said that they did find cocaine in the room where he was found dead.
Mary Forsberg Weiland wrote that she and their children, Noah, 15; and Lucy, 13, really lost Weiland years ago. “What they truly lost on December 3rd was hope,” she wrote.
She wrote that Weiland never really spent enough time with Noah and Lucy. When she wrote a book, though, she tried to avoid including painful memories because she thought it was best for them.
“When writing a book years ago, it pained me to sometimes gloss over so much grief and struggle, but I did what I thought was best for Noah and Lucy. I knew they would one day see and feel everything that I'd been trying to shield them from, and that they'd eventually be brave enough to say, ‘That mess was our father. We loved him, but a deep-rooted mix of love and disappointment made up the majority of our relationship with him.’”
After their marriage ended, she did try to help Weiland and make sure he was a part of Lucy and Noah’s lives, but it was difficult. She also hoped that when he remarried, Weiland’s life would calm down. But that was not the case. He never saw his children with his new wife and they never even went to her house. She noted that it is important for fathers to be a part of their children’s lives.
“I don't share this with you to cast judgment, I do so because you most likely know at least one child in the same shoes. If you do, please acknowledge them and their experience. Offer to accompany them to the father-daughter dance, or teach them to throw a football. Even the bravest girl or boy will refrain from asking for something like that; they may be ashamed, or not want to inconvenience you. Just offer – or even insist if you have to.”
In the end, she wrote that people shouldn’t spend their money on remembering Weiland. Instead, the best thing to do is spend time with your children. Mary Forsberg Weiland concluded the essay by writing:
“Our hope for Scott has died, but there is still hope for others. Let's choose to make this the first time we don't glorify this tragedy with talk of rock and 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.”