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Gene Simmons was made for lovin’ food — but in his older age, he’s reeling it in.
The KISS rocker, 76, gave a tour of his fridge to Men’s Health in a YouTube video on Nov. 3, and joked that he’s doing what he can to keep svelte.
“I’ve got to watch it. You know, my girlish figure and everything,” he said. “And the older I get… I’m 76 now. The problem is your metabolism, it slows down like a tick-tock of an old clock. So at 76, I can’t have as much as I like.”
Simmons said he’s a huge fan of all things dessert, including cookies, chocolates and cake, which he described as “as much fun as I can have with my pants on.”
Helping keep the pounds off is also the fact that the “Rock and Roll All Nite” singer doesn’t drink, and never has, all thanks to his late mother Flora.
“She was a survivor of Nazi Germany’s concentration camps at 14 years of age and I never wanted to break her heart,” he explained. “I’m her only child. So this idea that you could be a loser, not be able to earn a living and destroy yourself. I mean, she’d give her life to prevent anybody from hurting me, but it’s okay for me to hurt myself? That’s crazy. No.”
As for the rest of his diet, Simmons said his wife Shannon, 68, whom he married in 2011 after nearly 30 years together, likes to make homemade pickles from the couple’s garden outside, and he’s also fond of the tomatoes and prunes that they grow.
But sweets remain his kryptonite, especially when he’s on tour.
“When I’m on tour, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “I’d eat cheesecake every day because I’m wearing 40 lb. of armor, 7-inch platform heels… You don’t have to do anything. Within two hours you will be exhausted. The amount of calories burned on stage, it’s like a heavy workout. So I could eat anything.”
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Simmons said that post-show, he’s typically not very hungry, but craves sweets, and then in the morning will eat “a big egg white, maybe a little steak, toast, coffee” and then nothing else until the late afternoon rolls around.
The star also revealed that he’s a huge fan of cereal, so long as the milk is ice cold, and will often combine cereals into one big bowl so he can get “different flavors in every bite.”
As for how often he works out, the answer is simple: “Never.”
“As I mentioned, I’m 76. Just walk,” he said. “And you don’t have to do miles and miles, 10,000 steps they tell you about. We’re all genetically different. Just try to stand more than you sit the whole day. That’s all you’ll need.”
Simmons is set to take part in the KISS Kruise: Landlocked in Vegas event from Nov. 14-16, which will mark KISS’s first reunion since their 2023 farewell tour.
