American Idol judge and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler took a bad fall in a Paraguay hotel room shower earlier this week and ended up with bruises, stitches and two teeth implants. As soon as the news was out about the incident, rumors started to fly that Tyler had fallen off of the sobriety wagon.
Not true, says Tyler who called Matt Lauer of the
Today show Thursday to assure his fans that his recent fall did not have anything to do with alcohol use.
“It still bothers me a little,” Tyler said of the rumors, “but it’s something that I have to deal with for the rest of my life.”
Tyler insisted on the call that the fall was the result of food poisoning –“Montezuma’s revenge,” he called it–and not caused by his ongoing recovery from drug and alcohol abuse. “I get that people think that.”
This is what Tyler explained happened, “I was in the shower and I got nauseous and I started to get sick and I just fell on my face. I just passed out and woke up with the water on.” Tyler said the fall caused him to get four stitches above his eye and plastic surgery to get a tooth fixed, all in one swoop.
Despite the injuries, the 63-year old rocker could not be stopped from doing what he loves best: Tyler and Aerosmith took the stage last night in Paraguay. He told Lauer:
“Short of having my legs taken off, people are going to expect me on stage no matter what. It’s all about playing to the people. We rocked out. Not only did I break my face, but we broke a house record, so life is beautiful, Matt.”