World-famous rockstars have seen it all: jet-setting to shows around the globe, partying in the most exclusive clubs and carousing with endless groupies. But Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash might have them all beat.
Slash, formally known as Saul Hudson, really saw it all when he walked in on David Bowie naked with his mom. He found the glam-rock icon in bed with his costume designer mother, Ola Hudson, when he was just 8 years old.
Slash revealed the shocking incident to Australian radio station Triple M (via NME):
My mum started working with David professionally at first. I'm pretty sure that’s how it started. Then it turned into some sort of mysterious romance that went on for a while after that. She did his wardrobe for his whole Thin White Duke period and The Man Who Fell To Earth movie that he did. She did all that and he was around for a while.
He was always over -– they were always together. I caught them naked once. They had a lot of stuff going on, but my perspective was limited. Looking back on it, I know exactly what was going on. When I look back on that whole combination of people, I can only imagine how freaky it was.
Bowie dated Hudson when she and Slash's father broke up.
"I really didn't like him that much, because he was the new guy in the house," Slash is quoted as saying of the Ziggy Stardust rocker during an interview with Rolling Stone in 1990. "I was really resentful."
Bowie's dating history was quite expanisve.
The singer identified himself as a bisexual during an interview with Playboy in 1976. "It's true -- I am a bisexual. But I can't deny that I've used that fact very well. I suppose it's the best thing that ever happened to me. Fun, too. We'll talk all about it."
In 1993, he backtracked on this statement to Rolling Stone, as reported by the Orlando Sentinel, telling the magazine he was a "closet heterosexual" because he wanted to develop his on-stage alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, as much as possible.
''I wanted to imbue Ziggy with real flesh and blood and muscle, and it was imperative that I find Ziggy and be him," Bowie told Rolling Stone. "The irony of it was that I was not gay. I was physical about it, but frankly it wasn't enjoyable.''
In 1992, Bowie married supermodel Iman. The couple recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary.
As for Slash's mother, she had a successful career working with the likes of Bowie, Ringo Starr and John Lennon. She died in 2009 of lung cancer at the age of 64.
After her death, Slash took to his MySpace page to reveal a bit more about his life with her to fans, saying she was "the sweetest, warmest, most loving human being."
"She was also the coolest Rock & Roll mom a Rock junkie like myself could ever possibly want to have. She was responsible for exposing me to a lot of the music that would influence me as a musician growing up," he wrote, adding, "She turned me on to all different forms of art & the importance of artistic self expression & creative communication thru music & dance from as early on as I can remember. She really was all things artistic & creative personified & the world is a lesser place without her."
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