Deanna Adler, the mother of former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler, released a new book, Sweet Child Of Mine: How I Lost My Son To Guns N' Roses, on January 27th. LA Weekly caught up with Deanna and Steven on March 8th to discuss some of the events recapped in the book; following is an excerpt.

LA Weekly: You heavily criticize the big pharmaceutical companies in your book. Other than Steven, was this the inspiration behind writing Sweet Child of Mine?

Deanna: "It’s part of the purpose of writing it. It’s been about a year since Prince died. And I saw in People that Prince overdosed on drugs, and that he was being treated by Dr. [Howard] Kornfeld. Which was the same doctor that was treating Steven up in Marin County. I just wanted people to know that doctors can sometimes overprescribe their patients."

Steven: "He was stealing from me ’cause I was so out of it. He’d just write shit up. And my business manager would hand him the money." 

Deanna: "He had prescribed 63 different prescriptions in a 30-day period to Steven. Now why would you give a known drug addict so many prescriptions?"

LA Weekly: It says in the book that your problems in the studio during the recording process of Use Your Illusion were largely due to pharmaceuticals you were taking to sober up. Is this true? 

Steven: "No, I don't want to talk about it, but it was an opiate blocker I was taking, and you’re not supposed to take those when you have opiates in your system. You'll get violently sick, and I had to go into the studio and got sick. It’s just what happened, and my life changed from there. I call it the 'Pete Willis' syndrome (after the former Def Leppard guitarist): He drank too much one night, and came into the studio the next day and found out he didn’t have a job anymore."

LA Weekly: When Steven got the call and played with GNR in Cleveland for the first time on the reunion tour, you described it as "his dream come true." How do you feel about his life today?

Deanna: "I can’t even tell you how proud of him I am. He just wants to live in peace with his beautiful wife. He’s just such a different person. All his friends are clean and he’s just living life to the fullest."

LA Weekly: What did it feel like to finally reunite with GNR?

Steven: "I’m thankful I got to do what I got to do. It was the best time of my life. I got to end my career in a successful band, which is a hard thing to do these days. My generation is now classic rock, so I’m stoked to be related to bands like Queen or Rush or Aerosmith. That’s what every musician dreams of. Like on the way here, me and my mom got in the car, and the first thing we heard (on the radio) was “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and it’s so cool to be able to hear yourself 30 years later. I got to live that dream."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

A synopsis of Sweet Child Of Mine: How I Lost My Son To Guns N' Roses courtesy of Amazon and an excerpt are available below.

Guns N' Roses was quickly heralded as the greatest rock n roll band on the planet. During the late 80's and 90's the hedonistic rock gods Axl, Slash, Izzy, Steven and Duff scored sold out stadium concerts on the way to multi-platinum success. Appetite for Destruction still stands as the biggest selling debut album in rock history. During it all, original drummer Steven Adler stole hearts and headlines with his insane antics. But Steven was soon crippled by a tragic heroin addiction that led to him to being kicked out of the band he helped found.

At the center of this maelstrom stood Steven's mother, Deanna Adler, the GNR-proclaimed "first fan" of the group. Deanna was there at the beginning in 1983, when school chums Steven and Slash were building their street cred on the Sunset Strip. Deanna witnessed it all but has never told her incredible story, until now.

In honest, direct prose, Deanna gives an unflinching account of her son Steven's drug fueled ascent to becoming the co-founder of Guns N' Roses, and his subsequent fall to drugs and alcohol. In one of the most brutally raw, revealing books written on substance abuse, Deanna delivers a powerful, inspirational message of hope to anyone dealing with opioid addition.

An excerpt from Sweet Child Of Mine is available below:

My darkest fears exploded when I found Steven in the center of the bathroom floor, naked, his body bent at an impossible angle. He was soaked in a pool of blood and mucus. His face was smashed beyond recognition, his mouth and chin looked completely caved in.

I reached for my son and almost slipped on some pebbles strewn across the tile. Then I realized they were Steven's teeth. I dropped to my knees, crying hysterically.

I heard a groan, then... "ma."