Scott Weiland?s ex-wife, has urged fans not to glamourise the singer but instead learn from his mistakes.
The former Stone Temple Pilots singer died last Thursday, after years of addiction
, on his tour bus in Minnesota, as police found cocaine nearby.
In an open letter, his first wife Mary Forsberg offered thanks for the condolences but described Weiland as an absent father who neglected their children and often failed to pay child support.
she wrote in the letter published late on Monday by Rolling Stone magazine,
"I don't share this with you to cast judgment, I do so because you most likely know at least one child in the same shoes. Let's choose to make this the first time we don't glorify this tragedy with talk of rock and roll and the demons that, by the way, don't have to come with it.
Forsberg wrote, referring to Weiland's years of birth and death,
"Skip the depressing T-shirt with 1967-2015 on it. Use the money to take a kid to a ballgame or out for ice cream."
Weiland, a two-time Grammy winner who was also part of the super-group Velvet Revolver with former Guns N' Roses members, struggled for years with heroin use and, after believing he overcame the addiction, battled with alcohol.