Lily Cornell Silver, the eldest daughter of Chris Cornell, welcomed her mother, Susan Silver, on her IGTV series Mind Wide Open on Tuesday (July 20th), which would’ve been the late Soundgarden singer’s 57th birthday. The conversation also marks the last episode in a series that launched a year ago today.
Throughout the past year, Lily has interviewed such guests as Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan, Heart’s Ann Wilson, The Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen, Jack Osbourne, and more.
For the series finale, Lily chatted with her mom, Susan, who was not only Chris Cornell’s first wife, but also the manager of Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, and Alice in Chains (whom she still co-manages).
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At one point, Susan spoke of her decision to have a child with Chris, pointing to the death of her own brother as a catalyst. She told Lily, “Your dad and I always wanted to bring a family into the world and we were so busy with our careers. But it was the heart shattering loss of my little brother that made me stop and really look at bringing you into the world, first and foremost. And … really think about, ‘How did I want that to be for you?’ What did I want for you that I didn’t have in my growing up.”
Susan, who witnessed the drug and alcohol addictions of a number of her clients, perhaps most notably late Alice in Chains singer Layne Stayley, further told Lily, “By the time you were born, I had dealt with a lot of people who had substance abuse and addiction and there had been a fair amount of losses. And the losses, of course, have a profound impact. I was in my early 40s when I had you so I had a lot of life experience to look back on.”
She continued, “I had participated in a lot of programs with people in different rehabs, I would go as a supportive family member or spouse or in a professional capacity with clients. And certainly, I learned that there’s something underneath the addiction component and the conversation about mental health started to become more and more prevalent.”
With her Mind Wide Open series wrapping up, Lily will focus on finishing college, as well as her role as an ambassador for the app QUILT, for which she hosts a weekly discussion. She also recently gave her first public performance, singing Alice in Chains’ “Black Gives Way to Blue” for the MoPOP Founders Award ceremony honoring the legendary Seattle rock band.
Watch Lily Cornell Silver and Susan Silver discuss mental health in the video below.
