Widow of Paul Gray from Slipknot Claims Bandmates Did Not "Offer To Help" Him

The doctor of deceased former bassist Paul Gray was charged two years ago with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deaths of nine patients (including Gray) who died from overdoses after being prescribed narcotics.

The trial is going on now, and yesterday Brenna Gray took the stand claiming that she tried to alert her husband's doctor and stage an intervention. She also claims that even though she had reached out to his bandmates Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan in regards to his addiction, they refused to become involved. "Nobody else cared, nobody was involved. They told me it was my problem." And then days later, Gray was found dead in his hotel room.

The aforementioned claims about his bandmates may be shocking or seem unfeeling to many, but I have to say that there are always at least two sides to every story (this being no exception)... and to Corey and Shawn's credit, they probably had completely sound reasons for staying out of it. It isn't fair for his widow to blame her husband's death on lack of involvement from his colleagues or friends. Really, it isn't fair for her to blame anyone, because there's way too many factors involved in an overdose death preceeded by years of addiction to accurately place blame on any one person or thing. That's what makes these kinds of deaths all the more sad, because in the majority of cases, everyone connected to the situation feels they are doing the best they can and it doesn't influence things one way or the other.

The defense lawyer noted that the only drug found at the scene was Suboxone, a medication for people trying to break their addiction. That leads me to believe that he was stuggling to do his best to head in the right direction. The doctor must have thought it was best to try and bring relief to his patients. His bandmates thought it best they stayed out of what could have just been a domestic issue for all they knew, as it didn't seem to interfere with his work, or perhaps they understood that pushing too much "help" on an addict will drive them further downward and just chose to offer support directly to him if he himself asked for it. His widow couldn't bear to see him this way, and thought it best to try vehemently to bring attention to it in an attempt to convince him to focus on his health, and instead may have inadvertently pushed him in the wrong direction. It could have been so many things for so many people, but the fault lies with no one man or woman. There are just too many variables in life.

So, while I'm sure plenty of people will crow that Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan are heartless fuckers (which they very well may be for all I know), and that his doctor should rot in prison, I say this whole situation and everything surrounding it is unbelievably sad. No one has deserved what they have been dealt, in this instance and countless others like it. I hope that everyone involved makes peace with each other and with themselves.