The toxicology reports that surfaced after Scott Weiland‘s 2015 death determined that he died from an accidental overdose, but the singer’s widow has disputed that claim during a recent appearance on the Appetite for Distortion podcast.
In speaking about the singer’s death, Jamie Wachtel Weiland explained, “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.”
She then added, “The truth is Scott died because the main artery in his left ventricle was 95 percent blocked. 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.”
Weiland recalled, “I remember even talking to the coroner in Minnesota when everything happened and saying, like, ‘How could he lie to me about this again?’ And the coroner was so kind. And he said, ‘I think he just really didn’t wanna disappoint you.’ But, yeah, I really wanna clear up, that was not an overdose — it was not. He was not using heroin. He did not overdose on drugs. 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.”
Jamie Weiland Addresses Criticism From Outsiders
Jamie went on to discuss what her life with Weiland was like and how it may differ from what some might think.
“People can say whatever the fuck they want about things that I did or didn’t do. But the truth was I did pretty much all the heavy lifting myself with him,” she exclaimed.
“I was alone with him trying to keep him safe and keep him calm and get him to the right doctors and get him onstage, get him to rehearsals. It was just me. I was the gatekeeper for everything. And that was really, really fucking hard. So when we talk about the comments that people make about me, about Scott, about our marriage, I basically wanna tell everybody to go fuck off, ’cause they weren’t there. They didn’t know. And to judge and comment on it is just so low and ignorant. It’s just ignorance.”
She adds, “The horrible things that people have said about Scott, the use of [the word] ‘junkie’, all of that, I honestly stopped looking at all of this years ago. I just stopped looking. I don’t read any of the comments. I don’t read the articles about him. I don’t even look because it’s so upsetting to me, that ignorance and that negativity and that judgment. It makes me sick. It gives me anxiety. It depresses me. So I just don’t look. I just don’t look.”
Scott Weiland’s 2015 Death
The night of his death, on Dec. 3, 2015, the band was scheduled to play a show at the Medina Entertainment Center in Medina, Minnesota.
READ MORE: Bandmate Joey Castillo Opens Up About Scott Weiland’s Death
Then at 8:22PM, police in Bloomington, Minn. responded to a call a call about an “unresponsive male in a recreational motor vehicle.” When they arrived, they found the man, Weiland, was dead.
Initial reports suggested he died in his sleep from cardiac arrest, but toxicology results conducted by The Hennepin County Medical Examiner in Minneapolis, and released on Dec. 18, determined that Weiland died from an accidental overdose of cocaine, alcohol and methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA). The report also mentioned that Weiland had a history of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, asthma and multi-substance dependence, which may have contributed to his death.
Jamie Weiland Speaks With the Appetite for Distortion Podcast
10 Bands Who Overcame Huge Tragedies
Check out these inspiring tales of artists who’ve triumphed over devastation!
Gallery Credit: Jordan Blum