The rock legend detailed how the massive sale provided him with a level of financial stability that his music career alone couldn’t guarantee, despite his success in the industry.
“I sold my tequila company for 80 million dollars… That money changed my life,” Hagar said. “With music you’re always insecure. You’re always thinking: ‘Well I’m rich now, but it could all end tomorrow.’ I grew up poor. I didn’t ever want to be poor again.”
Hagar then noted the surreal feeling of waking up with such wealth. He painted a vivid picture of his reaction to the windfall.
“I’ll tell you what it feels like to wake up with $80 million in the bank… you wake up, you get out of bed, you lay on the floor and you roll around laughing for a couple of minutes,” he continued.
“Then you get up and take a piss and have your coffee… and then you roll around on the floor laughing for a couple more minutes. And you think: ‘How the fuck did I do that?’”
The former Van Halen frontman also admitted how the deal enabled him to maintain his preferred lifestyle.
“I like Ferraris, I like a nice house and fine wines,” he said. “I couldn’t live the way I’m still living right now if it hadn’t been for that [deal].”
The tequila venture that transformed Hagar’s financial future began as a simple business extension of his Mexican restaurant empire.
