News Archive July 2011

Gene Simmons To Shannon Tweed: 'We Could Elope'
From: Examiner.com
by Sterling Whitaker
Posted: July 7, 2011

On last night's episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels, the KISS rocker all but proposed to his live-in girlfriend of 28 years, former Playboy Playmate of the Year Shannon Tweed. "We could elope," Simmons said to an astonished Tweed.

The musician is famously opposed to marriage and has often referred to his long relationship with Tweed as being "happily unmarried." The couple has two grown children together, and while Simmons has steadfastly refused to even consider marriage in the past, the couple's recent relationship troubles and reconciliation seem to have put things in a new perspective for him.

In last week's episode Simmons returned to his birthplace in Israel for the first time in 51 years, and Tweed arranged for him to meet with some siblings that he never knew he had, born of his estranged father's subsequent marriages. Simmons also visited his father's grave, seeking to make sense of the abandonment he felt as a child. "It was high time," he told therapist Dr. Ann Wexler last night. "It reconnected me with emotions and thoughts I thought I'd completely hid."

So much so that the famously workaholic Simmons shocked Tweed and their son Nick last night by deciding to extend their stay in Israel instead of returning home to work. He acted as a tour guide as they visited the Sea of Galilee and Masada, and even participated in a camel ride.

There was also another somber moment of family history as Simmons found his mother's name in a listing of Nazi concentration camp prisoners while visiting a museum. Simmons' mother Florence survived the concentration camps and emigrated to America with her son when he was nine years old, while his father stayed behind.

Tweed remarked that she liked the changes she was seeing in Simmons, and teased him that even his father had referred to her as his wife in a letter he had written to Simmons before his death. "That's appealing to me," Simmons said, at which Tweed scoffed, "Don't start anything you can't finish."

"I can finish it," Simmons said. "We could elope."

Tweed has made no secret of the fact that she has wanted to marry Simmons for years, but she demurred his sudden change of heart, saying, "You need to sleep on it a little while. You might be making rash decisions. I just want you to want it for real."

Later the couple visited the Wailing Wall, where visitors often leave prayers on small slips of paper tucked between the stones. Tweed admitted to her daughter Sophie that she had wished she and Simmons would stay together forever, and surprisingly, Simmons made the same confession to their son Nick. "I wrote that I hope we stay together as a family, loving and looking after each other forever," he said.

The episode ended with a teaser for next week that depicted Simmons down on his knees in front of Tweed, giving rise to speculation that the season may end with an actual proposal for Tweed, who has been patient with Simmons' rock star antics and workaholic lifestyle for decades.

"The cycle stops now," she warned him last night. "Be a better man."