Gene Simmons on Trying to Help Kiss Bandmate Ace Frehley Before His Death

Gene Simmons reflected on KISS bandmate Ace Frehley's shocking death at age 74 while promoting his new horror movie Deep Water.

"There's no reason in the world why Ace [isn't here], he's younger than I am," Simmons, 76, exclusively told Us Weekly as he promoted his new film Deep Water. "It's interesting. I use the present term sense, because Ace is always here. His music is viable."

Us confirmed in November 2025 that an autopsy determined that Frehley suffered from a stroke and had a subdural hematoma caused by a fracture to the back of his skull. His death was ruled to be accidental.

In the years before his death, Frehley was open about his decades' long struggles with alcoholism and drugs dating back to when he was just 13 years old. (The guitarist told Blabbermouth in 2024 that he had been sober for 18 years.)

"I kept telling [Ace] to his face, ‘You got to stop this stuff. You're going to die sooner than you should,'" Simmons told Us. "It's horrible, because when that happens, they think ‘Well, it's my business.' No, it's not. You've got children, you've got a family, you've got fans, friends, you hurt everybody else. Death doesn't just affect you. ‘It's my life. I can do whatever I want.' No, that's not the way it works. So it's very sad."

Simmons admitted that he tries to choose his words carefully when discussing Frehley out of sensitivity for KISS fans.

"Almost anything I say will trigger the fans. They get very upset," he acknowledged. "You know, mother and father are there when life is given and there's a beautiful child and all and all of a sudden, because of a lifestyle, the father starts to shirk his duties and isn't such a good provider, and starts making bad decisions in life, chemicals, alcohol, you know, all that stuff which makes him less of a father, which hurts the family and the children or his friends. And eventually he flakes out."

Simmons continued, "Then, the mother, who's always there with the family, has the responsibility or not [to consider], ‘Do I tell our children the truth that her father was a loser?'"

The rocker praised Harlin for his hands-on approach throughout the filming of Deep Water.

"He hired everybody. His wife, Johanna [Kokkila], is also a production assistant, who we have, it's so many extras, and of course, you have to interview the extras to make sure nobody is just looking at the camera the whole time. That doesn't work," Simmons noted. "So you had to have a really good, complete cast, because you've got hundreds of people on this giant plane, and then [Renny] was there from the very first until all the way to the last bit of film was edited, special effects and all this kind of stuff. "

Deep Water is in theaters now and will be available for streaming on digital retailers June 16.

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This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 1:39 PM.