Paul Stanley was born with a serious congenital disorder that shaped his life in big ways.
The KISS frontman sat down with Dan Rather for “The Big Picture”, set to air April 23, and explains how he pursued fame “as a way to compensate for a lot of insecurities.”
Many of those insecurities stemmed from a birth defect Stanley has had to deal with.
“I was born deaf on my right side and I had a birth defect,” he says. I had what’s called microtia, which is basically not having an ear. Having a crumpled mass of cartilage.”
Stanley adds that the defect meant he “wasn’t very socially adept. When you have something physical that sets you apart from people it makes you really a target of unrelenting scrutiny and sometimes ridicule. And, quite honestly, the idea of becoming famous was a way to push it in people’s faces and go, ‘You see, you should have been nicer to me.'”
The 67-year-old says that he was lucky that he and his band ultimately became successful, saving him from himself.
“I was fortunate enough to have success come to me and realize that didn’t change anything. So I was really blessed because, at that point in your life, it’s either a disappointment because it’s not a remedy and you either put a needle in your arm, a gun in your mouth, or you live your life as a victim, and I’m not cut out for that,” he explains. “So, I decided that I would spend my life and my time on self-exploration and trying to make myself a better person and seeing where that was going to take me.”
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In 1982, Stanley went through reconstructive surgery that involved removing cartilage from his rib cage to form an ear.
