Late KISS drummer Eric Carr’s girlfriend Carrie Stevens recently publicly responded to bold claims made by Paul Stanley regarding her actions at Carr’s funeral.
Eric Carr’s girlfriend responds to Paul Stanley
On The Hair Metal Guru, she addressed the allegations. Stevens was responding to a specific question about Paul Stanley’s book, where he allegedly claimed she took drumsticks from Eric’s hands during the funeral service.
“That’s a complete f*cking lie. I can’t tell you how hurtful that is,” Stevens said. “First of all, you don’t take the most painful moment of my life and exploit it in your book to make money, you gazillionaire. That is wrong. And I’m going to call you out for it.”
Stevens said attending the funeral was emotionally devastating, calling it one of the hardest moments of her life, especially walking up to Eric’s coffin and spending two days at the wake with his family.
She recalled that Gene Simmons did not attend, while Paul Stanley appeared briefly. When Paul came over to greet her, she broke down crying and covered her face, saying she couldn’t bring herself to look at him because of how he had treated Eric.
“So, it brought back, of course, the worst memories. I mean, the hardest, one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life is walk up to Eric’s coffin,” she continued. “And I spent two days at the wake in front of his coffin in the front row with his family. Gene didn’t come. He was getting liposuction. Paul showed up briefly and do you know what I did at the time? He came to the front row, you know, to greet me and you know what I did? I went and I just sobbed into my hands so I didn’t have to look at him. I didn’t even want to look at him after the way that he treated Eric.”
Stevens said she was deeply hurt by Paul Stanley’s account, stressing that she was genuinely close to Eric Carr’s family. She claimed Stanley was distant at the wake and funeral, while she was treated as part of the family—riding with them, sitting up front, and being closely involved in honoring Carr.
She said revisiting and being criticized for that painful experience in Stanley’s book felt insulting and dismissed the love and loyalty she showed to Carr.
“Paul was just a little no one at Eric’s wake at Eric’s funeral. They were like they had to sit with the fans like they were not a part of the family like I was,” she said. “I was a part of the family. I rode in the limo with the family to the services and I sat in front and I was very close to Eric’s body and it was extremely difficult and disturbing. I didn’t need to be reminded of that in the book and be insulted for my place which was a place of love and loyalty and honoring him.”
Stevens said she only placed a small photo of the two of them in the coffin, with Eric’s sister’s permission. She firmly denied taking or selling his drumsticks, explaining that she had already given most of them away over the years and has just one pair left, which she keeps safely and will never part with. She added that she doesn’t understand why Paul would claim otherwise.
“And I did, cuz his sister told me it was okay, I put like a little photo of us like I slipped that into his coffin. I did do that,” she explained. “But why would I take his drumsticks? Do you know how many pairs of his drumsticks like I just had and I’ve given them away like an idiot over the years. I’ve just been nice and given them to people. I only have one pair left. They’re in my safe deposit box and I’ll never part with them. But I’ve never sold, you know, his sticks. I don’t know what the f Paul was thinking like saying something.”
