Trip to Israel Makes Gene Simmons Miss His Dad
Back in March, The Shmooze reported that the A&E reality show “Gene Simmons Family Jewels” was coming to Simmons’s native Israel. Now we have a glimpse of what Simmons, the former KISS star, found there.
It seems that he was overcome by regret for his estrangement from his father, Feri Weitz, who left him and his Holocaust-survivor mother when he was a child. During a visit to his father’s grave, Simmons became very emotional. “I am so stupid. Why didn’t I go to see him before he died?” he asked.
Speaking later, he commented on his refusal to contact his dad: “I wanted to prove to myself and to everybody else and to my father that I didn’t need him, so once I proved it and became successful, I wanted to stand stubbornly on my pride and not move.”
At the graveside, Simmons read a letter that his father had left. It said that he followed the star’s career through the media, and said that he was very proud of his children. “They are all beautiful and talented,” he wrote.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!