Gene Simmons recently opened up about a regret that’s haunted him for decades — how he handled his relationships with KISS founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Speaking during the 2025 KISS Kruise in Las Vegas, Simmons said he wished he had done more to help them, rather than turning a blind eye when things got rough. He admitted, “If I have any regrets … I sometimes wish we were smarter and better at trying to help Ace and Peter have better lives.”
Simmons acknowledged that, back in their heyday, the band often chose the easy route: avoiding confrontation. He said, “We’d say, ‘I don’t want to start an argument. Let’s just continue doing the tour,’ because you want to get through it … the money … you don’t want to ruin anything.” Meanwhile, he reflected that their partying and self-destructive behavior weren’t being addressed — and that cost them dearly.
He regrets not showing more “tough love.” He thinks if he’d been more direct — even if awkward and unpopular — it could have made a difference. “In the long run … you’re hopefully helping that person change their life,” he said. Simmons has always lived a relatively clean life, avoiding drugs and alcohol, and now he feels that his inaction might have cost his friends their well-being.
Looking back, Simmons praised Ace and Peter for the vital role they played in KISS’s early chemistry: “Ace and Peter have as much credit for the beginning of the band as Paul and I do … They had unique voices, unique personalities … they should have been here … enjoying the fruits of their labor.” He pointed out how substance abuse repeatedly became the same tragic storyline for them, even though they were enormously talented.
Simmons has also reflected on the broader rock world’s drug issues, saying that addiction was pervasive: “Go to almost every band … you’ll find people ingesting stuff … except they’re richer.” For him, the regret isn’t just personal — it’s tied to his belief that he and the band should have cared more deeply for their friends than they did.
Now, as he looks back on their legacy and Ace’s recent passing, those regrets feel more weighty than ever. Simmons seems to want more than an apology: he wants to believe that, maybe, things could’ve been different — if he’d only spoken up sooner.
