interview with tommy lee for a special on nikki
august of 2024
so nikki and his wife recently shared that they celebrated their 32 wedding anniversary but that they've been together for 48 years? that would mean theyve been together since 1976 but they've only been together since 1989, would you mind elaborating on that?
well, nikki and yn first got together in 76, thats true. she was 16, he was 18 and that was before i knew him. when i first met him, he was absolutely fucking in love with her, man, and everybody could tell. and when i first met her, i knew right then that they were fucking made for each other. i remember being so insanely jealous of what they had.
right, so theyve been together for longer than the public knew?
well no, not exactly. her band got signed in 1978 and they were pretty big at that point so everybody kinda knew yknow, like, on the strip that they were together. they stayed together for 8 years, she left him in 1984 when he started doing heroin. she couldnt handle seeing him... doing that to himself. the public was well aware—im pretty sure—of them being together. ill be honest, im pretty surprised nikki didnt cheat on her at all throughout that time period because the rest of us were fucking flying through chicks.
so they got back together when?
well during the three year period, nikki had overdosed pretty bad twice and of course she'd seen it on the fucking news both times. she ended up calling me, this is fucking crazy by the way how she knew, she called me a fucking week before his temporary death and asked me to keep an eye on him because she said she had a fucking dream about him dying. sure enough, a week later and he's dead. for two minutes but still, that blew my fucking mind.
thats crazy, she dreamt about him dying before it happened?
yes. and so she was the first person i called when i found out he was okay and she was in fucking hysterics when i did. she came down to the hospital but by the time she'd gotten there, nikki had already left. but i talked to her and we finally got her in the same room with him a few months later. i think if it hadnt been for her, im not sure nikki wouldve made it through rehab as well as he did.
what did she say to him? or do that you think made him stay with rehab?
i dont think she had to say anything. maybe she did, we dont know. she talked with him a whole lot and thats all we know. she never said and nikki says that its very private if anybody asks so we dont talk about it. but i know she did tell him that she still loved him but she couldnt be with him if he was still gonna be shooting up, i think that helped.
so nobody knows what she said then?
no but we dont need to know, thats not something i think should be out to the public. but she got back together with him in september of 1988 and they've been together ever since.
so what was nikki like while she was gone?
he was off the rails, man. like he was doing almost fucking double the drugs he was when she was still there. another weird thing, every girl he hooked up with had to resemble her in some way. they always looked a tiny bit like her. he was so... broken. it was like the one thing that gave him a fucking will to live was gone and i think it really was because she was his rock. she still is.
so would you say, had she not left, he wouldnt have had the momentary death?
absolutely not. it wouldve happened one way or another because when a persons fucking addicted the way he was, it builds up. but dont ever blame her for his drug intake.
sorry about that.
yeah. but anyways... nikki had this soft spot for her—this is back in the early 80s late 70s—everybody kinda new him as yknow this asshole kinda dude that did whatever the fuck he wanted. which he was but just not with her. nikki couldve been fucking yelling at somebody for breathing to loud and the second she walks into the room, he was perfectly content. i dont think he wanted to admit that soft spot until after they were married. im pretty sure he didnt want to admit it then but he didnt have much of a choice.
speaking of their wedding, it was very private wasnt it?
yes, it was very small and in the middle of nowhere. they got married- actually, im not supposed to say where but it was very small, id say no more than maybe 20 people. they didnt want the press there so it was very under the radar. like when he proposed to her, she refused to wear the ring until after the ceremony.
so it was very small. i can understand not wanting press there, what year did they get married?
that was in december of 1992. funnily enough, she announced she was pregnant almost a week later...
she has told in multiple interviews she never wanted children yet she has two?
well she didnt have the heart for abortion so she kept ava when she found out she was pregnant. jamie was planned, he was born 6 years after ava. but yn is a wonderful mother, i mean to parent nikki's children, you have to be. but she's always been motherly i just think the idea kinda scared her but she's awesome.
didnt end this very well but oh well, its something. also i said fuck 15 times and it still doesnt feel like enough. thats gotta be tommy's favorite word. ALSO let me know if yall like this perspective of interviews, personally i do.
