KISS’ Gene Simmons Remembers the Only Time He Ever Got High

KISS rocker Gene Simmons, a lifelong teetotaler, has claimed that he only got high once in his entire life. And it was accidental, he said.

In fact, longtime followers of the famous KISS “Demon” might have heard the story before.

For those who haven’t, however, the KISS icon and his son, Nick Simmons, worked in tandem on the latest episode of Your Mom’s House with Christina P. and Tom Segura to tell the tale of the single, solitary time Gene ever got ripped — when he accidentally ingested several special brownies after a KISS concert in Detroit in the mid ’70s.

Watch the video near the bottom of this post.

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“I’ve never been drunk or high in my life,” Gene says on the podcast (as transcribed by Loudwire.com). His son interjects, “Well, there’s one accidental story. Can we tell the brownie story?”

Nick continues, setting up the tale, “He’s so removed from drug culture that he didn’t know that you can bake cannabis into baked goods. He had no idea. So before I was born, before mom [Gene’s wife, Shannon Tweed], he was backstage and somebody had baked a pan of special brownies. And he had no idea that that existed, so he had no hesitation for eating six of them — just downing [them]. So, please describe then what you hallucinated. You’ve told me this a couple of times. It’s my favorite story.”

“Who does that? You ruined chocolate,” Gene quips before recounting his experience in full. Indeed, “Sweets are his drug of choice,” Nick offers.

The Only Time Gene Simmons Got High

As Gene recalls, “I’ve never before or since had anything like that happen to me. I wasn’t prepared for it. So, you’ve got a room full of people celebrating — we’re breaking some kind of record in Detroit … This was in ’76. … The whole room is full, and I’m just seeing the brownies piled [high]. And I love that stuff. Everyone’s [like] ‘Let’s smoke, let’s put things up our ass.’ No, just give me cake.”

Of course, “It didn’t hurt that she wasn’t bad looking,” Gene says of the woman who evidently dispensed the brownies. “[She] comes over, and I’m [like,] ‘Give me another one of those.’ Then I started, like a dog with a bone, just following her around. ‘Can I have another one?’ ‘You want another one?’ And I just kept eating it — six.”

For Gene, it was soon after that “the room started to get bigger, and my head started to get smaller … down to the size of an olive,” he explains. “I remember this: I started to open my eyes [wide] so that people would think I’m normal. [Makes startled face] And as I moved, my hands became — as it gets farther [away from you], it gets smaller — nope, [my hands] ballooned up like cartoons. So it got enormous.”

The KISS figurehead continues, “Luckily, there was a girl there,” referring to Jaan Uhelszki, the Creem co-founder who wrote about the incident in 2019, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. She said it happened in 1974 and insisted Gene ate three brownies.

“She’s written about it, too,” Gene continues. “She was the editor of Creem magazine. So, she took me out of there to the limo. And as I’m walking, every step I take, [I have giant feet]. … And I’m talking loudly because I don’t think she can hear me, ’cause my voice [seems] small.”

Gene’s Head Gets Smaller

Then, “We get in the limo, and I’m afraid to move or anything,” Gene says. “And I’m thirsty. … So they pull over two or three blocks in a ghetto in Detroit, and she leads me in to get me a drink. … And it’s filled with neighborhood folks who are there at night grabbing a burger and stuff after the show. And I’m dressed in leather, no kidding, and they all turn around. … And I’m thinking, They’re all looking at me because my head is small. So I try to make myself bigger. [Makes a funny face] And I go up, and the guy goes, ‘What’ll ya have?’ And I go — yelling — ‘Can I have a glass of milk?!'”

He continues, “So as we were going back to the hotel, she took out my key, and I tried to put my key, which was enormous, into the keyhole. It doesn’t work. Now, my son is not here. [Making sexual innuendo] I will say that I’ve never been as big in my life.”

Why Gene Simmons Doesn’t Get High or Drunk

More seriously, however, Gene adds, “I never wanted to get high or drunk because of my mother,” the late Flóra “Florence” Klein, a Holocaust survivor.

“She was in a concentration camp when she was 14 years of age. And I never wanted to break her heart. And I was always aware I never wanted to disappoint her — there was enough aggravation. So I never smoked cigarettes, never got high, never got drunk.”

Gene Simmons + Nick Simmons on Your Mom’s House with Christina P. and Tom Segura – Feb. 14, 2024