One of the weirder stories making the rounds over the weekend is that Alice Cooper, 71, and his wife of 43 years, Sheryl Goddard, 61, made a “death pact.” The singer, known for his creation of the “shock rock” genre, and incorporating elements of gore into his set to shock audiences (including a working guillotine, a boa constrictor, and, most infamously, perhaps, a poor chicken), gave an interview to the Daily Mirror and talked about his 43-year marriage to Sheryl, and how they are inseparable:
Shock rock king Alice Cooper made an art of terrifying audiences during his Seventies heyday.
Sticking his head in a guillotine on stage. And performing a mock hanging which nearly killed him.
He was even rumoured to have slept in a coffin with a built-in stereo installed.
So when we start talking about his devoted wife of 43 years, Sheryl Goddard, it’s somehow not quite so shocking when Alice, 71, stares into my eyes and sighs: “We’ve made a pact – there is no way of surviving without each other.
“I couldn’t live without her. We always said there will never be a time when one of us will be mourning the other.
“Whenever it does happen, we are going to go together.
“I’ve been married 43 years to the greatest girl in the world. We have never cheated on each other.”
It’s entirely believable. In a rock world littered with shattered marriages, they’ve been inseparable since Sheryl, 61, began dancing in his stage shows in 1975.
Alice has since issued a statement correcting the report:
“We have a LIFE pact. We love life so much,” the 71-year-old rocker told USA TODAY in a statement.
Cooper made many a headline over the weekend following an article in the British tabloid the Daily Mirror that quotes him as saying he and his wife plan “to go together” when one of them dies, because there’s “no way of surviving without each other.”
“What I was meaning was that because we’re almost always together, at home and on the road, that if something did happen to either of us, we’d most likely be together at the time,” Cooper added to USA TODAY. “But neither of us has a suicide pact. We have a life pact.”
I think this is a combination of sloppy reporting, and Alice having fun with hyperbole: If you read the quotes from Alice in the interview, he never explicitly says that he and Sheryl have a “death pact,” or, as he calls it in his response, a “suicide pact.” The “death pact” comes from the article headline. It sounds to me that he was using hyperbole: because he and Sheryl are so in love, they don’t believe that they would survive without each other, and so might not: that the “pact” that they made was a mutually agreed upon understanding of that fact, regardless of whether it actually turns out to be true. (Relatedly, Broken Heart Syndrome is real, though rarely fatal.) Alice may have known how his discussion of a “pact” about them not “surviving without each other” would come across, and thought he’d have fun with it and enjoy the publicity, which ended up going way up thanks to the Mirror’s headline and the reporter’s word-choice. It’s also highly likely that the reporter used the term “death pact” because the pact has to do with Alice and Sheryl’s deaths, and the reporter knew that many people would infer “suicide pact” from that. A great example of proof is right in Alice’s response.
That said, in the interview, Alice also didn’t connect the existence of their “pact” to the fact that he and Sheryl will “most likely be together at the time [that one of them dies],” as he explained to USA Today. That circumstance would completely make sense and not be sensational in the least. Alice also may have said it as a lead-in to the quotations in the Mirrorarticle and the reporter conveniently excluded it.
The article goes on to discuss Alice’s creation of the “shock rock” genre, how he maintains his good health, and his family life; he spends time baby-sitting his twin grandsons. He and Sheryl have three children: daughters Calico and Sonora, and son, Dashiell. There are also tidbits in the article about how Alice is friends with Johnny Depp; that he, Depp, and Joe Perry from Aerosmith are in a band called “Hollywood Vampires”; and that he is “helping pal Johnny as he overcomes his acrimonious divorce.” I respect the fact that Alice and Sheryl have had a long marriage and deeply love each other, inartfully described “pacts” aside, but knowing that he’s friends with Johnny Depp is incredibly disappointing.
Photos credit: WENN.com
Pretty amazing they’ve been married 43 years, celeb or not! I don’t follow Alice Cooper much or listen to his music but I remember when he was on The Muppet Show doing a kid friendly version of Welcome to My Nightmare, liked him ever since.
I occasionally listen to his radio show if I’m driving while it’s on (House of Hair is what I believe it’s called), he’s pretty funny and has a very soothing voice. He and his wife seem like the opposite of Ozzy & Sharon, meaning it sounds more like an actual marriage than a business arrangement (I’m sure it didn’t start out that way but seems to have become that).
I’ve been conflicted about ol’ Alice for the last few years. I love his music and saw him three times in concert (2011, 2014 and 2015) and he always seems like an endearing and funny gent in interviews. However, he’s also a “Christian” that votes Republican and then there’s his friendship with wife-beater Depp. So, yeah, conflicted.
I have met him and his wife on several occasions. Incredibly kind people. Even with years between introduction his wife remembered my name, asked genuine yet polite questions. We run in similar charity circles and when we lived in California and Arizona we came across them a lot.
My personal experience is that they are nice people who have some opinions I don’t care for. Their religion isn’t a reason to dislike them and people are allowed to vote as they choose even if I don’t agree. Thats part of a fair democracy. The relationship with Johnny Depp I don’t know. Some people just don’t cut off relationships, hard to explain that, but I’m not privy to their relationship.
Yeah, I don’t fault Alice for being friends with Johnny Depp since that predates his marriage to Amber. But I do fault Johnny for failing to learn anything from Alice, who is clearly a stable and sensible man in rock-n-roll while still being cool as hell. He’s a much better role model than any of the self-destructive a-holes Depp seems to emulate.
I think Alice is sober, too, isn’t he? I don’t think I’m making that up. I remember thinking it was odd when they were performing together and Johnny was clearly a bloated, wasted mess. He could certainly learn a thing or two.
I don’t dislike them for their religion and I didn’t say I dislike them at all. They can believe as well as vote for who/what they want. However the Republican agenda is the antithesis of what Christianity is about, especially with what’s happening today. That’s why I said I’m conflicted about him. But who knows, maybe he’s anti-Trump and doesn’t like the direction the party’s taken.
Glad to know he and his wife are genuinely nice people.
As for his friendship with Depp, maybe he stays close with him in a continued effort to help Depp.
I mean, no one was saying they aren’t allowed to vote the way they like? So saying that stuff is not the point. The point is, yes we are allowed to make moral judgement based on people’s actions (what else can we base them on?). And if someone’s politics becomes a threat/harm to others, that’s when respecting opinions ends.
So no, I don’t think Trump supporters are “incredibly kind people”. If you support Trump, you support it all and you are not a good person. I’m done arguing the middle line. They’ve had years of evidence of what Trump is doing: babies in prison camps, Muslims banned (and then amended and banned again), trans kids shoved off the way side, trans troops denied their basic humanity, on and on and on.
Also: fuck Johnny Depp and anyone who stays friends with rapists. There is no other acceptable opinion to have.
Despite his claims of being apolitical, I don’t like his politics at all — supporting Bush, calling Sarah Palin “a breath of fresh air.” What I really find problematic, though, is anyone’s decision to engender and help spread ignorance, and his belief in a literalist interpretation of the bible does just that. Believing that our world came about in 7 days, among other biblical fallacies, is as anti-science and ignorant as one can get, comparable to Jenny McCarthy and her anti-vax promotion.
I kind of have the feeling the same will happen to me, as in, if a bomb fell, is some accident happened, we’d both rush to each others arms.
I’ve not yet even made thoughts if one was lost before the other, I think, the alternative interpretation of that comes only once youve spent that much life together that you have to go when they go, too.
I see nothing wrong in that, alot of spirits are so close they automatically follow when their nearest passes.
So either interpretation, is not bad, and its their life and their choice and most of all their love, people need to stop being nosey.
Now, if somebody says, OTHERS got to go when they go, then yeah I got a problem 😀
My grandmother had a stroke that caused an aneurysm (or maybe the other way around) and she was the healthy one in her marriage to my grandfather. She passed away in March 2010. At first my grandfather spoke of wanting a companion, just someone to hang out with and talk to. When I was visiting him in February 2011 he talked about how my Nanny was the only woman who would be in that house and I knew he was giving up. On my last visit in April 2011 he started having mini-strokes in his brain stem and he passed away (on my birthday).
I’m still stuck on the 43 years of marriage. Now that’s good news.
Right? I first read that as *she* was 43. This is so refreshing in every way.
Should also add that Alice used to babysit little Keanu. Keanu’s mother, Patricia, designed costumes for Alice, among many others. Alice later said something along the lines of “who in the world would let Alice Cooper babysit their kid.”
IIRC his real name is Vincent and he loves playing golf.
Vincent Furnier. He’s an really nice man.
A friend of ours and his young daughter are both major Alice fans. The last time they saw him in concert they had front row seats, and Alice tossed her his prop cane at the end of the show. I found that story very endearing.
I happened to meet them many years ago. We were staying in the same hotel over the Valentine’s Day weekend. They were both very personable and down-to-earth. We talked about marriage (it was our anniversary) and we were surprised at how long they’d been married. I had no idea who they were. I knew he was some sort of celebrity. My husband did, lol. He was playing a concert that night.
They seemed so much in love. I can see not wanting to be on this earth without one another.
I love seeing stories of celebrities who are consistently kind. I wrote my experience with them above incredibly kind people and the most surprising was after over a year not only did his wife remember my name, but said it correctly. I have friends and colleagues who can’t remember my name correctly so let me tell you, his wifes commitment to treating others with respect was not lost.
I’ve ran into him a couple of times in airports in Arizona. He’s always carrying his golf clubs. He’s always nice and will talk to everyone who approaches him.
I was very young the first time I saw him perform on TV, probably on the Sonny and Cher show or something like that. My mom tells me I just stood there with my mouth open watching him, totally enthralled. The Osmonds and Jackson 5 just didn’t do it for me after that, I’ve been into rock/metal ever since. LOL
43 years together!!!! All the while being an entertainer. Absolutely amazing. Good for them! Now, that’s a love story.
I always hear and read really nice things about him. I just wish he wasn’t friends with JD.
I’m impressed with their longevity, but man, are pictures of them together a study in the double standards for male and female public appearances, that’s for certain.
43 years, wow!
Also, not to be crass, but she has had some good work done, she looks amazing at 61!
I was thinking the same thing this entire post!
Have to comment: he’s a friend of someone in my family. Ultra conservative christian, women submit/obey, abortion is murder, LGBTQ are abominations etc. He supports an active addict and rapist (but it’s not rape in Alice’s mind since marital rape is allowed in a “true christian marriage”). He doesn’t say this publicly, that wouldn’t be great for his persona – but these are the things he believes in his heart. This is what his church believes.
He is nice, he has a very public image to uphold; but the underbelly is very, very ugly. He thinks if he is nice to everyone it’s draw ppl to his twisted version of christianity.
And his wife has had more plastic surgery than you can even imagine. Remaining desirable to your husband is paramount in their world. It’s your duty to please them.
These aren’t the beliefs of a good, kind man – whatever you think you know of him after meeting him once.
Re: the chicken. I heard Alice explain that on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. He said someone tossed a chicken onstage…actually, I don’t remember how the chicken got onstage. What I do remember is that he said he picked it up & tossed it into the audience, figuring it’s a bird, it’ll fly (he grew up in Detroit), but it plummeted into the audience.
I love Alice. He is a magician. His stage show is a mix of all of that. And he may be a Republican, but he is friends with Stephen King (the author, not the horrendous politician), so he can’t be all bad. It may be my head-banging 80’s high school years, but I have a real soft spot for this guy.
alice i feel the same…. i feel like ive literally met the best man in the whole entire world and i dont ever want to live with out him
now i say that as a total independent (lifestyle wise, mentally, wtc.) adult but literally sometimes you meet you person and it just is the best things ever.