Steven Tyler Says He "Passed Out" Before Shower Mishap

Arnaldo Magnani/Getty Images(ASUNCION) -- It’s certainly not the first time Steven Tyler has fallen, but his latest spill in a hotel shower in Paraguay left the Aerosmith frontman, 63, looking more like a street fighter, complete with missing teeth, a cut eye, and busted lip.

Naturally, the fall has people wondering if maybe Tyler, who has struggled with substance abuse problems in the past, also fell off the wagon. He called into the Today show Thursday to set the record straight, telling Matt Lauer, drinking “is not the issue.”

 “Quite frankly, I passed out. I was in the shower, I got nauseous, I started to get sick, I fell on my face,” he said of the Tuesday mishap. “What’s it called when you eat something, Montezuma’s revenge? I took a walk with the Incas for 48 hours. I walked in looking like [Mikhail] Baryshnikov and walked out looking like Leon Spinks.”

Tyler’s manager called the American embassy and took the American Idol judge to the best hospital in the Paraguay capital, Asuncion.

“It was like one-stop shopping,” Tyler said. “They stitched up my eye, they did a little plastic surgery and they fixed my tooth all in one fell swoop.”

The singer went on stage that next day with sunglasses but soon took them off to applause. He reassured fans that the rest of Aerosmith’s South American tour would continue.

“Short of having my leg taken off, people can expect me to hit the stage no matter what,” he said.

As for still having to answer questions about his substance abuse history, Tyler said, “It’s nothing I don’t understand. It makes me a little upset. But I get that people think that. It’s something that bothers me and it’s something I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life.”

Then, showing that he hasn’t lost his humor, Tyler proclaimed, “You can’t handle the tooth.”

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