Steven Tyler: Hotel fall was not a relapse
(CBS) Steven Tyler is talking about the spill he took in a Paraguay hotel earlier this week, which left him with cuts to his face and two missing teeth.
The Aerosmith rocker and "American Idol" judge says the spill was an accident due to food poisoning, not a drug relapse.
In a phone interview with the "Today" show on Thursday, Tyler told co-host Matt Lauer that he was battling food poisoning when he began to feel nauseous in his hotel room's shower.
"I started to get sick and I fell on my face and I just passed out," he said.
"I woke up with the water running on me ... and the next thing you know my tour manager was calling the American Embassy and we found the best hospital," Tyler added.
Reports say the rocker spent almost four hours at a medical center in Paraguay's capital, where he received stitches and emergency dental work.
"It was like one-stop shopping," Tyler told Lauer. "They stitched up my eye. They did a little plastic surgery. And they fixed my tooth. All in one fell swoop."
Tyler added that the fall was an accident, not a relapse of the drug and alcohol problems he's battled in the past.
"I get that people think that," he said. "It still bothers me a little, but it's something I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life."
Tyler's scheduled performance with Aerosmith was postponed a day because of the accident, but the show went on Wednesday night.
"Short of having my leg taken off, people are going to expect me to hit the stage no matter what," he said.
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