Gene Simmons opened up about why he doesn’t fund his children Nick and Sophie Simmons’ lifestyles now that they are adults.
“Well, the word ‘no’ means no. The word ‘no’ in these, let’s say, progressive times, and these woke times is children are allowed to roll their eyes or go into their rooms and slam the door, and that’s not allowed. It’s not your door. It’s my door,” Simmons, 76, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting his new movie Deep Water. “And every morsel of food you put into your little chubby cheek mouths is my food. Every breath of air you take is my air, at least in this house. So we had really strict rules. There was never any allowance. For doing what? For being alive? You’re training losers.”
Gene, his wife, Shannon Tweed, and their two children — Nick, 37, and Sophie, 33 — famously starred together on the hit reality series Gene Simmons Family Jewels, which centered around the KISS singer and Tweed’s unique approach to parenting.
“Sophie and Nick, I have to say, are much better, much more moral and ethical human beings than I ever was. Certainly Shannon ever was,” he joked. “Sophie is approaching 2 billion downloads of her songs. She writes and produces, does all that for other artists, the rock band Train and lots of others, a lot of K-Pop stuff. She did that all by herself. Taught herself, never asked my opinion about how should I write songs? Self taught. Nick, likewise, has had his music on the Prodigal Son TV series and Ozark … and just finished his first album with [KISS member] Paul Stanley‘s son Evan.”
Looking back on his children’s younger years, Gene made a point of having Nick and Sophie earn any money that they asked for.
“When the kids were growing up, we had to negotiate. [They’d say], ‘Dad, I love you. Can I have 20 bucks?’ Um Okay? I appreciate the ‘love’ part. Yeah, that’s good. What do you want to do for the 20 bucks? What are you going to do? ‘Well, I’ll take the garbage out and then cut the lawn.’ Okay, well, let’s negotiate. How about 10 bucks? No, I think then you settle on 15. Life,” he recalled. “You got to make sure they understand that money doesn’t grow on trees. And I didn’t make up these rules. I’m just aware of it, because sooner mom and dad, your safety net, go away, and we’re not going to be here forever, and then life doesn’t care that you’re a nice person. You got to show me what you got.”
With KISS having retired from touring following the conclusion of the End of the Road World Tour in 2023, the Simmons family have a lot more time to spend together.
“You know, between all the houses that we have all over, the kids are almost always here on the weekends, and they’re grown,” he pointed out. “You know, they’re grown man, grown woman … And who else do you know that age [saying] ‘I gotta go visit my mom and dad.’ Oh, they are. I couldn’t tell you.”
Gene took the opposite approach with his late mother, Flora Klein, a Holocaust survivor who was 93 when she died in December 2018. The musician strove to make his mother’s life easier since she lost numerous family members in the Holocaust.
“I hope I helped make my mom’s life easier so she didn’t have to worry about houses and food. It’s all taken care of, but only through work and through the wisdom,” he said. “Even though my mother wasn’t classically educated, the wisdom of my mother’s words was more profound than all the teachers and professors I ever was around, because she understood the value and the blessing of life.”
The KISS bassist suggested that today’s generation must understand that most of them “live in the lap of luxury.”
“Many of us feel entitled,” he added. “‘It’s my right to health care.’ No, it’s not. … [My mom] never borrowed money. She never owed any. She was never in debt. She went to work in a sweat factory, no minimum wage, and never complained about anything, because she understood the glory that is America.”
He added, “The American dream is not that the streets are paved with gold, but that if you work hard enough, harder than the person next to you, it doesn’t matter if you’re a first generation legal immigrant, you can reach the top, even above people who have been here for generations, if you work harder, have the right thing at the right place and the right time, you can reach the top.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee had a stern message for “the naysayers and the haters” who doubt America’s greatness.
“I’ve met people saying, ‘I can’t wait to get out of America.’ So tell me where you want to go. You got to stay there for the rest of your life,” he declared. “I’ll pay your ticket. I’m rich! I earned it. I’m going to get you the f*** out of this country, because this country doesn’t need people that don’t appreciate it. Go anywhere you want, but you have to stay there forever. Can’t come back. I’ll pay you. Yeah? God bless America is apropos … There’s no phrase called the French dream, no bitch, there’s only the American dream.”
Gene shared his fiery opinions on family and politics while promoting his new movie Deep Water, a horror thriller about survivors of a crashed Los Angeles-to-Shanghai flight who must fight for their lives in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He executive-produced Deep Water, which is directed by Cliffhanger’s Renny Harlin and stars Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley and The Dark Knight actor Aaron Eckhart.
“Deep Water has the distinction and the honor of having Renny Harlin, a wonderful director who’s directed Die Hard 2, and, you know, he had another amazing shark film [1999’s Deep Blue Sea],” Gene told Us. “And our cast, by the way, we have Sir Ben Kingsley, Aaron Eckhart, this is a stellar international cast. We also have some terrific Chinese actors and so on.”
Deep Water is in theaters now and will be available for streaming on digital retailers June 16.
