Vince Neil Reveals He Suffered a Stroke & ‘Had to Learn to Walk Again’

It’s the stuff of nightmares. Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil reveals in a new interview that he suffered a stroke while asleep on Christmas night, and woke up the next day unable to get up.

“My whole left side went out,” the rocker told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, explaining that the stroke was why the band announced March 4 that its residency at Sin City’s Dolby Live at Park MGM — set to run March 28 through April 19 — had been delayed until September. At the time, Mötley Crüe’s statement said only that the singer “required medical procedure.” The Crüe also canceled May’s planned performance at Maryland’s Boardwalk Rock festival.

“I had to learn to walk again, and that was tough,” Neil added, noting that things appeared pretty dire at first. “The doctors said they didn’t think I’d be able to go back on stage again. I go, ‘No, no, I’m gonna do it. Watch and see.’”

At first, the musician, who did not lose the use of his voice after the stroke, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, things were so bad he couldn’t even walk himself to the bathroom, and people had to carry him. Eventually, he was able to move enough to use a wheelchair, then a walker and finally a cane. Now, after months of physical therapy at his Nashville home? “I don’t need anything,” he shared. “But it’s like a full-time job getting back to where you feel good again.”

Mötley Crüe’s Las Vegas residency kicks off Friday (Sept. 12) and runs through Oct. 3.