Flea Explains Why He Left Gay Past Out Of Memoir
Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea says fans who buy his new memoir won’t read about the gay experiences he had when he was younger.
The 57-year-old musician admits he wrote at length about his same-sex encounters in an early draft of Acid for the Children but decided to take it all out.
“I didn’t want it to be sensationalized,” Flea told The Guardian. “To me, it wasn’t a big deal. I was experimenting and it turns out, ‘hey, I’m not gay’. So, it’s not really my story.”
Flea, who married designer Melody Ehsani last month, does write about male identity in a chapter titled “Men Don’t Kiss Men.” He recalls feeling hurt as a six-year-old boy when his father admonished him for wanting a kiss.
Fast forward to the early days of Red Hot Chili Peppers, who posed for a Los Angeles gay porn magazine.
“I felt honoured that they wanted us in the magazine,” said Flea. “The gay community in Los Angeles were the first ones to really embrace the Chili Peppers.”
As for the band's fondness for stripping down on stage and for photos? “I grew up running around naked,” said Flea. “There’s a freedom inherent in it, a rebelliousness, that I find beautiful.”
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