Keith Richards finally admits that he snorted his father’s ashes

There are have been plenty of tell-all books and interviews about the Rolling Stones and guitarist Keith Richards that have detailed Richards’ drug addiction, his tendency to carry weapons, his arrests and his overall decadent behavior.

But perhaps the most infamous story about Richards is one he told about himself. In a 2007 interview, he confessed that he snorted the ashes of his late father, Bert. Then Richards denied the confession shortly after he got quite a bit of negative backlash from certain people who were outraged and who thought that what Richards did to the ashes was twisted and disrespectful.

But Richards has finally admitted that the story is true. In a cover-story interview with AnOtherMan magazine to promote his memoir "Life," Richard says:

"I opened my dad's ashes, and some of them blew out over the table. I looked at them and what do I do? Do I desecrate them with a dustbin and broom? So I wet me finger and I shoved a bit of me dad up me f****** 'ooter. I'm sure he's still blessing me. The rest I put ‘round an oak tree."

The interview is in AnOther Man’s 11th issue (Autumn/Winter 2010), which is on sale now.

The fact that he is finally setting the record the straight about the ash-snorting incident shows that Richards has made some kind of peace with any negative criticism that he got because of the confession. Otherwise, he would still be denying the story if he were overly concerned about people’s reactions to it. Richards also confirms that his intention in snorting the ashes was not cavalier disrespect but it was, in his own way, to be close to his departed father. It just goes to show that people grieve in different ways when they lose a loved one. It’s a matter of opinion how Richards’ actions are judged regarding his father’s ashes.

Richards’ memoir "Life" goes on sale on October 26, 2010. As previously reported, Rolling Stone magazine is publishing an exclusive excerpt from "Life" in an issue that will be available as of October 15, 2010.

In the interview with AnOtherMan, Richards also names his favorite guns, and he says that he still carries a knife with him when he goes out in public. (This is nothing new for anyone who has read Richards’ interviews and Rolling Stones books over the years.)

Richards also says in the interview that he was once so stoned that he passed out while performing on stage during a Rolling Stones concert: "I fell asleep on stage in the middle of playing ‘Fool to Cry.’ It is a very boring song and I was pretty out of it. I was on one of those volume pedals and I just stayed on it — but it got so loud that I had to wake up." (Richards passing out in a drug-induced stupor — again, nothing that hasn’t already been said before this interview.)

But what is new in the interview is Richards’ revelation of a drug-fueled road trip that he took with John Lennon: "Me and John went on a three-day road trip across England," says Richards. "What happened neither John nor I could ever remember. We must have been on something exceptional. There was one young lady with us at least, and a chauffeur because we were in no driving condition. And we were just playing sounds. We were in my Bentley. I said, 'I'm not going on a trip with you in that goddamn psychedelic Rolls Royce. Let's go more discreetly in my little blue Bentley.'"

Richards also says he’s offered advice to notorious drug addict Pete Doherty: "Amy Winehouse and Pete take drugs for the same reasons we did. All I'd say is take your drugs in your spare time, if that's what you want to do, but don't mix it up. I've had a word with Pete about this but it don't make any difference. If you mix it up you're just gonna fall like a million others. I've seen too many friends gone that way."

You know you’re really messed up if Keith Richards is telling you that you’ve gone too far with your drug use.