Creed‘s Scott Stapp has apparently fallen on some hard times. Fifteen years after the band’s Human Clay sold over 11 million copies, the lead singer now finds himself “penniless” and reduced to living in a Holiday Inn, Stapp says in a jarring 15-minute video that he posted on his Facebook page (via TMZ).
Stapp opens his testimonial by assuring fans that he’s not under the influence. “I’m sure you’ve heard the many rumors and slanderous, libelous accusations over the last few weeks,” Stapp says. “First, I was dead. That came out obviously that it was a hoax. Then there were rumors that I’m on drugs and drinking and relapsed and in rehab, all these other things. That’s also a lie…I’m sober as can be.
“About eight weeks ago, I began an audit of not only my record company but my personal finances,” Stapp says. “During the course of that audit, a lot of things were uncovered. A lot of money was stolen from me, or royalties not paid, and that’s when all hell began to break loose.”
From there, Stapp launches into his tragic tale: Unnamed people have cleaned him out and left him penniless. Stapp, now homeless, says he is filming the video from the Holiday Inn where he is now staying, but prior to that, he was forced to live in his truck without money for gas or food. At one point, according to the “Higher” singer, he was taken to the hospital for an unspecified reason.
Stapp’s video comes just days after his wife Jaclyn, a former Miss New York USA, filed for divorce from the Creed singer, the Miami Herald writes. In the divorce petition, Jaclyn Stapp alleges that her husband disappeared from their Boca Raton, Florida home in early October and she and their three children haven’t seen him since. The petition also claims that Scott Stapp is “doing so much amphetamines, crystal meth and steroids that he has become a paranoid shell who has threatened to kill himself and harm his family.”
TMZ claims that the divorce document contains dozens of text messages from Stapp to his wife, including, “I wouldn’t doubt it if the CIA is behind Alcoholics Anonymous” and “God is also telling me something about Palm Springs and Nashville so there’s a connection somehow. He’s also telling me DEA for some reason.”
“This is a very painful and personal matter for Jaclyn and her family,” Mrs. Stapp’s attorney Jason Brodie said in a statement. “Her primary concern remains, as it always has been, the best interest of her children.” In 2012, it was also revealed that rapper T.I. saved Stapp’s life following a 2006 suicide attempt.
