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Paul Stanley is opening up about why a facial deformity helped him when it came to a certain role.
In an interview with Billy Corgan on The Magnificent Others podcast on Wednesday, June 11, the KISS frontman discussed how his birth defect helped him connect to his character in The Phantom of the Opera.
Stanley, 73, recalled his experience during opening night of the musical where he played the Phantom.
“There’s something about doing things where you have a certain discomfort that really strengthens you, and also allows you to know who you are,” he said of the experience. “You can’t know who you are unless you take chances, and then it becomes a matter of do you want to skate through it, or do you wanna really commit yourself? I don’t do anything I don’t commit myself to.”
Stanley said that playing the role was “eye-opening” in so many ways.
“I didn’t realize at the time how I connected with that character because, well, he has this ghastly facial deformity,” he said. “I had an ear that got scrutiny and stared at and teased, and I separated myself from people and didn’t know how to interact with people.”
Ultimately, he realized: “my God, that’s kind of me.”
Stanley recalled how shocked he was to received letters from people about his performance.
“I got a letter from a woman who was the president of a charity group called About Face that work with children with facial differences,” he said. “And she said, ‘I seem to bring something to the character, and she was so moved and this and that.'”
Stanley then opened up to her about “a secret” he kept his whole life.
“I said, ‘Well, I have a microtia,” he recalled.
According to the Center for Disease Control, microtia happens when “the external ear is small and not formed properly.”
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Stanley revealed that throughout his life, he covered his facial difference with hair.
For the musician and guitarist, it was “cathartic” for him to share.
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Stanley also discussed having microtia in April 2019 in an interview with Dan Rather on The Big Interview.
At the time, he said pursuing the spotlight was “a way to compensate for a lot of insecurities.”
“I was born deaf on my right side and I had a birth defect,” said Stanley. “I had what’s called microtia, which is basically not having an ear. Having a crumpled mass of cartilage.”
He revealed that because of this, he struggled with being “socially adept.”
“When you have something physical that sets you apart from people it makes you really a target of unrelenting scrutiny and sometimes ridicule,” said Stanley.
He continued: “And, quite honestly, the idea of becoming famous was a way to push it in people’s faces and go, ‘You see, you should have been nicer to me.'”
