Former Motley Crue A&R man Tom Zutaut said singer Vince Neil never apologized for sleeping with his girlfriend in 1983, an incident he discovered only when band memoir The Dirt was written around 15 years later.

The moment is depicted in the movie version of the memoir, which he said was a reasonably accurate presentation of the band’s story.

“For 20 years, I didn't even know that it happened,” Zutaut told Billboard in a new interview. “All I knew was that we went to the US Festival and we were having a good time at the show. She went to use the restroom or something, and I lost her. Then Motley’s set ended and I went backstage to look for her. … There was a backstage area with a bunch of trailers and mobile homes. I went to Motley’s dressing room, and the security guys would not let me in. Finally, they [did] and I still couldn't find her. I found her maybe a half hour later, sort of standing outside a hospitality area. When we got back [to the hotel], she seemed really upset about something. I kept asking her what was wrong, and she would say nothing, but then she was like, ‘I’m going to stay on the couch tonight.’”

He added that "the next morning, we got in the car and she was like, ‘I have to break up with you, this relationship isn't working out.’ We drove back to my place, she grabbed her stuff and I drove her home to her parents’ house in San Diego. And that was pretty much it.”

Zutaut said the couple had been dating for about a year, and it had been a “pretty serious relationship.” “The thought never crossed my mind that anything like that would happen," he explained. "That she would do it on her end, and that someone like Vince would even try to do that. Then, 20 years later, [author] Neil Strauss fact checks the book with me and he brings this whole thing up. I'm like, ‘Wow.’ I was wondering what had happened. I never really understood it.”

He said he lost touch with the woman a long time ago, but hoped she might one day tell her side of the story. “The only people that really know the truth would have to be the band, because apparently it happened in the band's trailer and they were all in there when it happened," Zutaut noted. "I think there is some reference to them not telling me because they were afraid that they would lose their record deal. It's a mystery I would love to solve one day.”

Asked about how Neil had dealt with him since the revelation, he said the singer had “pretty much avoided” him. “The right thing for Vince to do would be to apologize to me, but that's really on his shoulders," he said. "We’re talking about something that happened a long, long time ago.”

Meanwhile, The Dirt book, originally published in 2001, returned to The New York Times bestseller list for the week ending April 14, reaching No. 6 in the nonfiction print paperback category, and No. 8 on the nonfiction combined print and ebook list. It followed an explosion of activity surrounding Motley Crue’s music catalog.

 

 

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