I don’t think I’ve given Teresa Barrick enough credit as one of my role models. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never underestimated her place in rock and roll history. I just haven’t put her up on the same kind of pedestal that I’ve placed some of the other rock and roll it-girls on, and that’s really not fair because I actually care a lot more about her than I do about most of them.

She's genuine and loving and truly a lifesaver.  She really takes caring for a musician to the next level.  Above all, she was never in it for her own personal gain.  She just had a big heart and opened her arms up wide.

The only pre-1982 information I have about her is that she and her twin sister Lisa sometimes hung out with Johnny Thunders, but I don’t know what that relationship entailed or the extent of her influence on him and the New York scene.

But I can tell you that pretty much every love song Steven Tyler wrote from the ’80s onward was about her, and that really goes to show just how significant and influential she has been. Not to mention she designed most of Steven’s stage clothes.

I also can say with certainty that Aerosmith would not be in this current predicament if she were still Mrs. Tyler. She wouldn’t have let Steven go down this dark road. She would have kept him in line.