1984, called Runaway. Naturally,
I was the bad guy. I had a weekend
off and, since I was living with Diana
Ross, at the time, I asked her
permission to go to LA. I was seeing
a Playboy playmate on the side and
she’d told me about an event called
Midsummer Night’s Dream at Hugh
Hefner’s house.
“There will be 300 playmates,
scantily clad, and about 100 guys—
movie producers, celebrities...” she
said, and asked if I wanted to come. I
said “OK!”
Shannon [a model and actress] was
there with not very much on. She is
six feet tall. With the heels and big
hair, it was a sight. We had a
connection and I phoned Diana and
told her what had happened. We
talked it through and there’s no bad
blood, to this day. Shannon and I
have been together ever since....CRYING WHEN MY SON, NICK,
WAS BORN. As an only child, I
hadn’t really opened up to anybody.
Other kids used to call me Spock.
I suppose when my father left, I shut
down emotionally. But when Nick
arrived, I just broke down. The
tears wouldn’t stop. I was shaking.
I believe, at that moment, I finally got
over myself. It had always been about
me. “I’m hungry!”, “I’ve got a
papercut!” Then, suddenly, here was
a new life to focus on, instead....I USED ROCK TO STOP KIDS
TAKING DRUGS, WHEN I WAS
JULY 2019 • 35READER’S DIGEST