When MÖTLEY CRÜE’s frontman Vince Neil appeared on today’s (Wednesday, September 24) episode of SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, he dropped a shocking revelation: he had suffered a stroke last December. The news helps explain the sudden postponement of the band’s Las Vegas residency and canceled tour dates.

At the time the residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM (originally set for March 28 through April 19) was delayed, the band had only stated that Vince required a “medical procedure.” The public did not know then that the matter was so serious. The group also withdrew from their May performance at Maryland’s Boardwalk Rock festival without further details.

The Moment It Hit: How Vince Discovered the Stroke

Discussing how he first realized something was wrong, Vince (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET) said:

“It was Christmas night, and I went to sleep. I woke up and I couldn’t get out of bed. I’m, like, ‘What’s going on?’ And my left leg wouldn’t work, and my left arm wouldn’t work. So I had to get help out of bed. I couldn’t push myself up to get myself comfortable in bed. And I had to have help. And slowly but surely, the sensation came back in my legs. And I had to learn to walk again. I went from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane to — I can walk now, but for five months it was just off and on, not knowing what’s gonna happen. And the doctor said that I probably wouldn’t be on stage again. And I was, like, ‘No, man. I can’t do that.’ And so I just tried. I worked my butt off to get back in shape to go on stage. And I was really sad to have to cancel those shows, but I just wasn’t ready yet. I wasn’t ready to be back on stage yet. It was really sad, but it’s really worth it now, ’cause I can get on stage and sing and all that good stuff.”

Vince also described how others weighed in on diagnosing the issue:

“Well, Rain [Vince’s then‑girlfriend] has an aunt who’s a nurse, and she called her aunt, and she said, ‘This is what’s going on with Vince,’ and [her aunt] goes, ‘He’s had a stroke.’ And by then it was just too late to go to the hospital because you have to get [there] within, like, 12 hours or something. And I was just kind of, like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna go away. It’s gonna go away.’ … I thought, ‘Oh, well, it’ll come back in a little bit.’ But it didn’t. Yeah, that was the hard part. Then I went to the hospital. They said I had a stroke, and they go, ‘We can’t do anything for you now because you’ve already had it and you’ve gone past that time’ where they give you this drug — it makes it so you’re not numb on the side.”

He later added more about the medical findings:

“Well, they said that I had a blood clot in my leg that ran up through to my brain. And they showed me — I had a neurologist come out and they took x‑rays and stuff, and you see I had scars in your brain. [And they said], ‘See that’s where you had a stroke.’”

A Family History & Personal Loss

Vince also revealed that his father had died from a stroke in March 2021. “I moved him to Nashville, right down the street from my house,” he said. “And he was pretty bad. He couldn’t talk. It was really sad. And he had to have a helper help him, and had to have a motorized wheelchair and stuff. He fought through it, but the stroke just took him out.”

The weight of that personal history adds poignancy to Vince’s own ordeal now. It’s not just a public health scare — it’s something he’s familiar with in painful ways.

Recovery: Physical Therapy, Determination & Setbacks

Vince described how he rebuilt himself:

“Lots of physical therapy. At first I went to a place for 10 days in Nashville, and they worked with me at the very beginning to get back the memory stuff that I have. And then I just hired a physical therapist to go to my house every day. And he was a physical therapist that does football players and stuff like that. So he had me running and doing the things on the ladder, the ladder on the floor, running those back and forth, doing massages, my hand, my arm. But he brought all of it back. He got me through all this.”

In this interview, Vince dropped another startling truth: he had actually suffered four strokes over the years, two of which he didn’t even know about.

“Four strokes throughout the years. Two of ’em I didn’t even know I had,” he said. “One of ’em was a mini stroke that happened and I just lost feeling in my hand. And that was it. And I got over that pretty quickly. But then this last one, it was a big one.”

“Because they could see it in your brain. It’s scarred right around the same spot. I had four scars in my brain, and the neurologist said those are all strokes.”

“I can’t remember any other time I felt weird or something,” he added. “It must have happened and I got over it. I didn’t even know it.”

These earlier “silent strokes” illustrate how serious neurologic damage can lurk beneath the surface.

Returning to the Stage — Slowly, But Surely

Vince also opened up about the decision to return to performing live:

“I had these concerts lined up, with the solo band too, which I canceled. And then I went back and tried to do three [solo] shows [in August]. And those were all right, but I should have canceled those too. But I wasn’t a hundred percent ready to go back out on stage. It was a little too early for me, and I just thought, ‘I’ve gotta get myself together more.’ And I’m 95 percent good right now. I’d like to get that other 5 percent… I really wanted to get ready for [the MÖTLEY CRÜE residency]. There’s things that I can’t do on stage still. It’s hard to run back and forth on that stage. That stage is so huge. But I’m getting used to it.”

His honesty is striking: he acknowledges there are still limitations. But yet, when doctors had earlier warned he might never perform again, Vince refused to accept that as his reality.

When asked why the band first concealed the stroke news — issuing statements only about a “medical procedure” — he said:

“I just said, ‘Let’s just say it’s a medical thing happening and I had to cancel,’ let people figure out what they wanted,” Vince said. “But then I decided that it was probably time to tell people what it was. And so I had an interview with John [Katsilometes of the Las Vegas Review‑Journal], and so I told him. And that went everywhere. It was crazy.”

In other words, he made the choice to be transparent when he felt the time was right.

Why This Matters — And What Comes Next

• Transparency and trust. Fans and media had been left wondering about the reasons behind the delays and cancellations. Vince’s openness restores clarity and connection.
• Resilience in the face of adversity. To recover from a stroke and resume performing — especially in a band as high energy as Mötley Crüe — is no small feat.
• Partial recovery with ongoing challenges. Vince himself admits he is not yet at 100 %. There remain vulnerabilities and uncertainties about what his future performance capabilities will look like.
• Legacy and mortality. Facing a serious health crisis at this stage in his career, and with personal history of stroke in the family, brings into focus the fragility behind rock‑star legend.

Now, as MÖTLEY CRÜE begins their rescheduled Las Vegas residency (set to run September into October), all eyes will be on Vince Neil. Will he deliver the same high‑octane performances fans expect? Time will tell. But one thing’s clear: he is back, he has fought hard, and he’s determined.