Lou Gramm underwent emergency brain surgery five years after going through rehab for drugs and alcohol, but according to what he told the Toronto Sun, that wasn't the end of his problems. Post-op, his treatment included the use of steroids — and that, in turn, meant he gained around 100 pounds.
Fans did, of course, notice, and he was candid about the bullying: "I didn't feel good or look good, and I took a tremendous backlash from fans who thought I was eating too much when it was the steroids that were blowing me up," he explained.
It also hasn't been the end of his health-related issues. Although he stepped away from Foreigner in 1990, he joined up with Mick Jones once again for a series of 40th-anniversary reunion shows. That wasn't to be, though: Billboard soon reported (via Syracuse.com) that Gramm had pulled himself from the show on doctors' orders after being hospitalized for "severe respiratory infection, dehydration, and fatigue."
At the time, Gramm was looking ahead to official retirement. When he spoke with Daily Boom in 2019, he said that although he was having a ton of fun reuniting with Foreigner, and performing on-stage again, "I'm in the process of winding down, and I'm at peace with it."
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