Gene Simmons of Kiss to Wed Girlfriend of 28 Years
Former “Kiss” band member Gene Simmons is finally marrying his girlfriend of over 28 years, Shannon Tweed.
Publicist Dawn Miller said in an email to the Associated Press that she is “happy to confirm that Gene and Shannon will be getting married in the near future.”
E! News confirmed on Thursday that the couple will wed on October 1 this year at a Beverly Hills hotel. Simmons and Tweed, formerly an actress and model, share two adult children, Nick and Sophie.
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The date is just three days before the premiere of the seventh season of “Gene Simmons Family Jewels,” which airs on A&E.
Many “Family Jewels” fans doubted the couple would actually marry, according to Fox News. The reality show revealed to audiences the complex and often unstable relationship between the duo.
Simmons confessed on the reality show to sleeping with over 5,000 women over the course of several years, many of which overlapped his relationship with Tweed. Cameras followed Tweed and Simmons to relationship counseling sessions, and Tweed said there was a “slim chance” that they would actually marry.
The reality television show captured the moment Simmons proposed to Tweed during the sixth season’s finale, while they were vacationing in Belize.
Simmons, 61, told Tweed before asking her to marry him: “I come with so much baggage, but you’re the only friend I’ve got. You’re the only one I love… and you’re the only one I ever will love.”
She accepted, but not before a tearful initial reaction.
After the proposal was aired on television, Tweed spoke to People magazine and said, “You’re seeing this happy family… but in my heart, I am dying.”
Tweed, 54, sought a committed relationship from Simmons throughout the filming of the show, and fans speculate that her agreement to wed was conditional.
A&E’s “Gene Simmons Family Jewels” returns in television on October 4.
