Keith Richards denies reports that he snorted his father's ashes

April 5, 2007

According to a recent interview, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is said to have snorted his late father's ashes mixed with cocaine.

In an interview with the NME magazine he is quoted as saying "The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father. He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared, he didn't give a shit. It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive. He went down pretty well."

Despite the interview, Richards denies he said anything like that and that he ever used cocaine.

"I wouldn't take cocaine at this point in my life unless I wished to commit suicide. The truth of the matter is that I planted a sturdy English Oak. I took the lid off the box of ashes [of his father] and he is now growing oak trees and would love me for it!," said Richards in a statement also adding that the interview was "lost in the usual slanting."

Bert, who had been the father of Richards, died when he was 84, back in 2002.

Richard's manager later told the NME that the remarks had been made "in jest", and should not be taken seriously.