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When Scott Weiland died in 2015, it was ruled an accidental drug overdose; however, his widow Jamie Weiland doesn't believe that was his actual cause of death.
“I feel like he really does not have the accolades and the respect and the recognition that he absolutely deserves,” she explained during a visit to the Appetite For Distortion podcast. “I feel like when he died, everybody was kind of, like, that’s tragic, but, of course, he overdosed, which he didn’t fucking overdose, which I tried to get that point across. He didn’t.”
“Because he had drugs in his system, the coroner had to rule it an overdose. But the truth is Scott died because the main artery in his left ventricle was 95 percent blocked," she continued. "That came from 10 years of heroin use, that came from an entire adult life of chain smoking. His heart stopped. Did he have trace amounts of drugs in his system? He did. Did I know he was using? No, I didn’t, because he lied to me, because I had caught him before and it would always be this huge fight and I would be furious at him.”
“His heart stopped because his heart had been through so much abuse because of prior drug use in his life and smoking and heavy drinking,” she said.
Scott was best known for fronting Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver. His son Noah is following in his footsteps as a musician. Earlier this year, he released a song featuring never-before-heard vocals from his late father.
Watch Jamie's full podcast interview below.