Without fanfare, without pomp, without the knowledge of anyone outside close friends, family and former bandmates, Scott Weiland was buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Dec. 10, a week after his death.
The only way the rest of the world knew the ceremony had taken place was through social media posts from those who attended, including Susan Holmes-McKagan, wife of Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan, and Chris Kushner, wife of Velvet Revolver guitarist Dave Kushner.
From Holmes-McKagan’s Instagram:
The official cause of death is still unknown, pending a toxicology report which could take up to two months. Rumors and speculation about drugs found on the tour bus where Weiland died have been rampant.
At the same time, Mary Forsberg Weiland, who was married to Scott Weiland from 2000-2007, urged his fans and those in the media and rock worlds not to glorify his death or wax philosophical about his drug use.
In a piece published by Rolling Stone, Forsberg said that while she and the children she had with Weiland, Noah, 15, and Lucy, 13, are sad at his passing, for them he’s been gone years, and his death was something inevitable.
December 3 is not the day Weiland died, but instead the day they lost hope that he might one day recover and live up to his responsibilities as a father, she wrote, with Noah and Lucy’s help.
“We don’t want to downplay Scott’s amazing talent, presence or his ability to light up any stage with brilliant electricity,” she says. “So many people have been gracious enough to praise his gift. The music is here to stay. But at some point, someone needs to step up and point out that yes, this will happen again – because as a society we almost encourage it. We read awful show reviews, watch videos of artists falling down, unable to recall their lyrics streaming on a teleprompter just a few feet away.”
It’s not pretty, what she has to say, but it’s something she’s struggled with for years and likely angered many fans. It’s a comment section that most readers should probably ignore, but all part of the public grieving process.
For more of our coverage of Scott Weiland’s death, read here and here.
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