Drama and In-Fighting Erupts Within Alexi Laiho’s Family

Last week we learned that Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho died of “alcohol-induced degeneration of the liver and pancreas connective tissue” and “had a cocktail of painkillers, opioids and insomnia medication in his system” at the time of his death, according to his first wife, Kimberly Goss, who cited the “final forensic report” in a social media post.

Now it’s come out that Alexi’s immediate family, including his most recent wife, Kelli Wright-Laiho, are upset at Goss for releasing that information, which they said was done “against our family’s will and without our consent,” citing Alexi’s desire to keep his illness private in the final days (and years) of his life. Calling Goss “mentally unstable,” Alexi’s family stated that recent reports indicating she and Laiho remained on good terms following their split in 2004 were untrue, calling the relationship “totally unilateral.” What’s more, they claimed that Goss and Laiho never officially got divorced for financial reasons, and that Goss is currently holding up the burial process.

The initial claims against Goss came from Alexi’s sister, who posted the following:

“I confirm that my brother broke up with Kimberly Goss decades ago and he had several valid reasons to do so (I will not go through the details here). Their so-called ‘close friendship’ after breaking up exists only inside Kimberly´s mentally unstable head and everyone who knows Aleksi is well aware of that. This ‘friendship’ was totally unilateral. My brother never, not even once, said ANYTHING positive to me about Kimberly. Someone might wonder why Aleksi was still married to her if he hated her so much. The reason is very simple, it was because Kimberly threatened him to take 50% of his money if he divorces her. Leaving marriage valid was not the best decision, but he was clever enough to make a will, excluding Kimberly of his inheritance. Everything will go to our parents.

“What is to be noticed is that Kimberly Goss currently prevents our family from burying Aleksi’s ashes and the situation has been this ever since the funeral took place on 28.1.2021. You see, this is how Kimberly Goss uses her legal rights as a widow, preventing griefing mother and father bury their own son. Her selfish and narcissistic explanation is that she wanted to take part in the funeral and still wants to be present when the ashes are buried. But our family does not want this monster anywhere near us. And last but not the least, publishing the details of Aleksi’s death is something Kimberly did against our family’s will and without our consent. I believe Aleksi would not wanted that either since he always wanted to keep his private life out of publicity. Our family’s opinion about publishing the details of the death was told to Kimberly very clearly and knowing this, she decided to do that.”

Wright-Laiho shared the above message yesterday, adding her own boost:

“Alexi’s phenomenal big sister sets the record straight after the disgusting release of Alexi’s private medical records ????????.

“So fucking proud to be apart [sic] of this family!!!”

Goss responded to the above posts this morning, calling the claims against her “unthinkable lies” that she can easily disprove with texts and videos from Alexi, and adding that she’s received threats of death, rape and torture from Children of Bodom fans angry at her perceived role in recent events. Her statement, posted on Instagram, reads in full:

“I don’t know what to do. I’ll be damned if I do and damned if I don’t. I feel as though my hand is being forced by people who are spreading unthinkable lies about me. Lies that have resulted in me receiving gruesome threats of death/rape/ torture by fans who believe these falsehoods.

“Lies that I’m a ‘gold-digger’ who Alexi ‘hated’. This can be easily disproven through the beautiful text and video messages he sent me daily, right until the last day of his life. Messages so sweet, yet so heartbreaking at the same time. Heartbreaking because you can see how ill he was. I tried everything I could to help him. I often messaged people in Helsinki to check in on him because I was so worried.
I’m only human and I’m nearing my breaking point. I feel desperate to clear my name, but I know the only way to do so definitively would be to release his beautiful video messages to me. His closest friends in Helsinki have seen these, but that’s apparently not enough to stop this slandering by a few delusional people. These messages are private, not meant for the world to see. I don’t want to release them, but more importantly, I don’t want to fear for my life every time I go outside. I take these threats very seriously. While most are empty, history has taught us that some fans are crazy enough to follow through. Dimebag was murdered by a fan who thought he was the reason Pantera broke up.

“So do I let the people taunting me, win? My limits are being tested. I don’t want to stoop to their level, but how else do I get these threats to stop? The timeline of events clearly show that I’m not the one who started this public feud, but I have an obligation to defend myself against threats. It was HIS choice not to divorce me. Facts just seem to evade to certain people. I’m so broken.”

As someone with no dog in this particular race, I hope that all parties are able to reconcile as quickly as possible. It’s a shame to see this kind of fighting, especially publicly, instead of celebrating Alexi’s life and work.

[via Metal Injection]