Gene Simmon's wife Shannon Tweed says Paul Stanley threw her husband "under a bus" over his Prince comments.

Shannon tweeted: "We ALL have our failings but true friends don't point at them & throw you under the bus! Especially partners of 40 years!"

But Paul hit back, saying: "Partners of 40 years says it all. Don't confuse walking under the bus with being thrown under. My apology was right."

The row came after rocker Gene said in a recent interview: "How pathetic that [Prince] killed himself. Don't kid yourself, that's what he did. Slowly, I'll grant you... but that's what drugs and alcohol is: a slow death."

Paul tweeted a link to the article and wrote: "Embarrassed by cold clueless statements re Prince's death. Without all the facts better to say nothing. My apologies."

Simmons later issued his own apology, writing: "I just got such s**t from my family for my big mouth again. I apologise - I have a long history at getting very angry at drug users because of my experience being around them coming up in the rock scene.

"In my experience they've made my life, and the lives of their loved ones, difficult. I was raised in a culture/crowd where drug addicts were written off as losers, and since that's the narrative I grew up with, it's been hard to change with the times.

"Needless to say, I didn't express myself properly here - I don't shy away from controversy, and angry critics really don't bother me at all. If I think I'm right, I'll throw up a finger and dig my heels in and laugh.

"But this time, I was not. So, my apologies. (sic)"