Showbiz Real Start Stories: Gene`s Other Kids
A.J. HAMMER, HOST: On this special edition of SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, Showbiz Real Star Stories revealed. Carnie Wilson`s shocking weight loss surgery secrets. Giuliana Rancic`s revelations about having a double mastectomy. Tonight, the real story behind Giuliana and Carnie`s incredible health comebacks. And Showbiz rocks -- Kiss, Sammy Hagar, Blondie, get your air guitar out, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is taking you backstage with some of the biggest, hardest rocking bands of all time, and they`re revealing their secrets to me. This special edition of SHOWBIZ TONIGHT starts right now.</s>NISCHELLE TURNER, HOST: Hello. I`m Nischelle Turner with a special edition of SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, "Showbiz Real Star Stories." Hollywood`s A- list isn`t always quick to tell their personal secrets. But tonight all that changes. First up, confessions of a rock star. Gene Simmons is part of the iconic rock band, Kiss. He`s known as a tough guy, who says what he means and means what he says. His reality show, "Simmons Family Jewels," has given us a new look into his life as a family man, and now we`re getting an even deeper look at an emotional side of Simmons. I went one-on-one with Gene and got him to reveal what really makes him tick. Warning, this confession might just tug at your heartstrings.</s>GENE SIMMONS, "GENE SIMMONS FAMILY JEWELS": You mean -- you mean "Gene Simmons Family Jewels."</s>TURNER: Yes, "Gene Simmons Family Jewels." And you say, "I`m Gene Simmons, rock god." But this reality show has shown a different side of you.</s>SIMMONS: Well, you know, if you stick around long enough, then you get to crawl under the skin of the bad guy.</s>TURNER: And dare I say that you even come off a bit sweet, especially with the kids in Africa?</s>SIMMONS: Two, three.</s>SIMMONS: This will be a lifetime memory. And I wish all the school -- all the schools in America, the school kids, could experience seeing another side of life on Planet Earth, because we live here and you`re in L.A. or you go to New York and this is the world, and it`s not. And there are -- I don`t know what the numbers are, but clearly, half the world is going to sleep hungry, many of them children. And it`s not -- it`s not an unbeatable idea. We can beat this and everybody can do something.</s>TURNER: If you don`t mind me asking, what is the cost of that?</s>SIMMONS: About $30 a month will feed a child, which really means the family, because they will apportion foods and stuff like that. So I`m taking over. I`m going to do thousands and thousands of children. Do some of them come to school hungry?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, of course.</s>TURNER: I love that passion. I really do.</s>SIMMONS: My father left us when I was about six or seven. And one day, a box came in. It was a cardboard box. Later, I figured out it was a care package. I picked up my first can of food. It was canned peaches. I`ve never seen a can. You know, we didn`t even have a toilet when I was growing up. And she opened up with a knife. She had to break through it and opened it up. And I remember tasting -- this gets a little emotional for me. So I remember tasting those canned peaches, sweetest things I`d ever had. And all of a sudden, I had the idea that somebody cared. And I don`t know what it meant. And it was a sweater, there were some holes in it, that I put that was too big for me. But I probably went to school wearing it. And once I grew up, I promised myself I`ve got to make a difference. You can`t go through life and die and leave things the way they are because we can all make a difference and if I die today I know I made a difference.</s>TURNER: Is that what you pass on to your kids?</s>SIMMONS: You betcha. Sophie, my daughter, who`s 19, on her own, raises money, goes there and visits the kids, consoles them, comforts them, so that these kids -- when you`re abused, when you`re hungry, when you`re alone, you have the feeling nobody cares. Sophie makes sure they know somebody cares.</s>TURNER: You talked about how talented your kids are. And you do -- I remember seeing Sophie sing "At Last" at the wedding. Crazy.</s>SIMMONS: Well, they all -- everybody can sing except me.</s>SIMMONS: Shannon can sing. Sophie can sing. Nick sings. They love blues and torch songs, all sort of stuff. I can -- I can`t sing. I`ve got a long tongue. That`s about it.</s>TURNER: How many times a day do fans ask to see your tongue?</s>SIMMONS: All the time.</s>TURNER: Do you ever get tired of showing them your tongue?</s>SIMMONS: Well, you have to give them something to believe in. Because women out there believe that it`s just a legend. But, girls, it`s true.</s>TURNER: I`m telling you, that Gene Simmons, he does not quit. He and Kiss have been doing the rock star thing, get this, almost 40 years. Fire- breathing, smoking guitars, rockets on stage, they are definitely legends in my book. So why aren`t they in the rock `n` roll hall of fame yet, huh? The group puts on their face paint and tells A.J. Hammer the real story. And let me tell you, in true rock star fashion, they break it down without sparing anyone`s feelings. They`re fired up and they have got a lot to say. Do they think they`re being dissed over less talented acts? A.J. has that fired-up interview in just a bit. Mike Tyson has long been considered a loose cannon inside and outside the boxing ring. From the infamous bite fight to that face tattoo and of course his rape conviction, Mike Tyson`s public personal has been shaped by a lifetime of outrageous behavior. But as I learned, there`s more to Mike Tyson than all of that. I caught up with the boxing great in Las Vegas when he was rehearsing for his one-man show, and he confessed some shocking details of his life that really had a profound effect on him.</s>TURNER: When you say sex worker, you mean a prostitute?</s>TYSON: Yes, like -- yes. Well, you know, politically correct is sex workers now.</s>TURNER: Do you think that -- seeing your mother be a sex worker and the other women, do you think that`s what some people would say you didn`t treat women with respect?</s>TYSON: Hundred percent, 100 percent. No doubt about that, that I didn`t understand a commitment until like a couple of years ago, three years ago because I -- you have to understand, every man I met, they`re all chauvinistic. They believe they`re superior to women. That`s the world I grew up in.</s>TURNER: The truth is, I was a little nervous today because yes, that`s the image. I was a fan of you boxing. But the image is this tough, mean, rough, sometimes dangerous man.</s>TYSON: I was very successful in my job, making you think that.</s>TURNER: Well, can I ask you this because you talked about how you went to prison and you talked about that here? What did you learn from that experience?</s>TYSON: I was never at peace with myself. I was never comfortable in my skin, you know, because of things I`ve seen as a kid. And I used to grow up in a real violent, dysfunctional household. And that`s why I see the violence in. Dysfunctional and</s>HAMMER: So I thought it`s really interesting that you admitted that you were nervous before you actually spoke with Mike and told it right to his face. How do you feel about the guy now?</s>TURNER: You know, Mike Tyson -- he`s an interesting character. I`m not really sure, to be honest, how I feel about him now, A.J., still. Do I think that he is fully there and fully evolved? No. But do I feel like he`s a work in progress? Absolutely. And I think he has made steps. He`s been clean and sober for three years. He`s now a vegan, he`s trying to live the life of a domestic married man. So I think he`s trying to take some positive steps into really cleaning up his life.</s>HAMMER: Certainly a different guy and so candid. He opened up to you in such a big way about his life and al of his troubles.</s>TURNER: Yes.</s>HAMMER: And he even had a very candid conversation with you about what was happening behind the scenes of "The Hangover."</s>TURNER: Yes, crazy. I had to ask him about his scene-stealing role in "The Hangover," A.J., and what was going on in his life then. I have to say I was very surprised when he admitted that he was doing drugs at that time. Take a look.</s>TYSON: Gambling with life back then. I wasn`t the person I am now. Just gambling with life.</s>TURNER: What</s>I -- TYSON: Yes.</s>TURNER: You were battling addiction when you were doing that movie?</s>TYSON: Yes, I was doing drugs. But listen, I was on the set. And I was just doing my lines. Regardless of my situation, if I was high or if I was obnoxious, I come to work, I come to give 100 percent. That`s what I credit myself with being a real professional artist, you know. I`m never late. And it`s always on top of my -- my personal life is disgusting, I`m always late, I`m a mess. But I`m talking about for my professional life, I`m impeccable. I`m unstoppable. I`m on my game.</s>HAMMER: Well, compelling to hear him talk about that. And it`s really interesting that he says --</s>TURNER: Yes.</s>HAMMER: -- he wasn`t the person then that he is now. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Nischelle Turner, thanks so much, Nischelle.</s>TURNER: Indeed.</s>HAMMER: Well, we turn now to Carnie Wilson`s real star story. Tonight, the real story behind Carnie`s second dramatic weight loss surgery. She reveals to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT the truth about her two-decade struggle to stay healthy and how she`s finally feeling like she`s coming out on top. Plus Giuliana and Bill Rancic`s cancer reality.</s>GIULIANA RANCIC, TV HOST: So for me it was very important to go public and let other young women know, that if it can happen to me, it can happen to them.</s>HAMMER: Giuliana opens up to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT about her double mastectomy, her incredible brave recovery and why she shared her private pain with the world. This is a special edition of SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, real star stories on HLN. And now, Tony Bennett`s real star story about recording his now famous duet, Amy Winehouse.</s>TONY BENNETT, SINGER: Everybody says, look out. You know, but she showed up completely sober. You know, and with her dad, and they were so nice to me. And she told me, she said, when she received her first Grammy years ago, she said, it wasn`t that she won that thrilled her but the fact that Tony Bennett announced that she won.