Sophie Simmons Calls Katey Sagal ‘Low’ for Revealing Dad Gene’s Affair
Sophie Simmons probably will not be racing out to pick up a copy of Katey Sagal’s new memoir, Grace Notes.
In the revealing book, the Married With Children star, 63, details an affair she had with Gene Simmons 43 years ago. Sophie Simmons, the 24-year-old daughter of the Kiss rocker, thinks the account is unnecessary.
“I feel like it’s no one’s business, really,” she said on the Allegedly With Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss podcast on Tuesday. “I mean, if Katey wants to write a book about her life, cool — but to write about someone and then have it affect their family I feel like is a really kind of low place to go to try and sell a book.”
Simmons added, “And she should probably look at her own family — I’m just saying — before pointing fingers … because other people could write books too.”
Burn!
Sagal — who has been married to screenwriter Kurt Sutter since 2004 — met Gene Simmons, 67, in a bar in Santa Monica, Calif., where she was singing as a waitress in the ’70s.
“At first, I thought Gene was really weird,” the Sons of Anarchy alum writes. “I took him home with me that night because he was quite persuasive, and I like men.”
Simmons ended up signing Sagal and her band to his label, but they were dropped after one album. The affair was on and off for several years, but ended when she told Simmons she was going to marry bassist Freddie Beckmeier unless he married her instead. Simmons reportedly laughed at the idea, so Sagal did tie the knot with Beckmeier in 1977. They divorced three years later.
Sophie Simmons, who is a musician as well, said her family will brush off the story. “It really doesn’t affect us — we’re so tight as a family,” she explained. “My parents are so crazy in love. I mean, congrats to the one groupie who thought they got ahead, but apparently didn’t. … You’re a really talented actress, so it worked out.”
Gene Simmons wed his longtime love, Shannon Tweed, in 2011 after three decades together. They have two children: Sophie and Nick, 28. Sagal, meanwhile, is on her fourth marriage. She and Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter share a 10-year-old daughter, Esme, born via surrogate. Sagal is also mom to a daughter, Sarah, 22, and a son, Jackson, 21, from her third marriage, to Jack White.
