Poison frontman Bret Michaels will be looking for Miss Right again when VH1’s Rock of Love Bus starts shooting next month, but future contestants be warned: he’s still not over season 2 winner Ambre Lake.
“I still love her,” Michaels told people on his luxury tour bus Tuesday night moments before stepping onstage at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. “I’m not really over her yet. We still hang. She was just out with me a couple days ago and we were having a great time. She’s really got it. I think she’s great.”
Season 1 winner Jessica Rickleff dumped the rocker soon after the show ended. In April, Michaels thought he had found love again in 37-year-old Lake. But in July, people reported that they broke up because of their conflicting work schedules.
“The reason for destruction of all my relationships is that I’m passionate about being on the road and making music,” he says. “I have great relationships. But the women I date don’t realize that I spend between 6 and 8 months of my life on the road — touring or traveling or seeing family with my daughters.”
To help him find a woman who can deal with his rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, the upcoming season of Rock of Love will be shot entirely on the road.
“Wait till they travel on a bus and are living in and out of a suitcase under the bay of the hotel,” he says. “You know they’re going to show up here with 14 suitcases when you can fit about one. I have two pairs of jeans … You learn to live like that. It’s a whole different life.”
Despite enduring days without laundry or taking a shower, the winner may not end up with a ring on her finger. “I’m pretty honest with the girls,” he says. “I tell them, ‘Look, we’re dating. There’s no white picket fence.’ It’s not like all of a sudden the show’s over and the next day we’re married and that kind of thing.”
Does Michaels ever want to tie the knot? “I don’t know,” he says. “I never really thought about it.”
Michael’s best friend and bodyguard, Big John Studd, tells people he hopes the rocker does find the right woman on season 3. “But he’ll never be over Ambre,” he says. “Whoever he decides to pick from season 3 is going to have to accept that as well because she comes with it.” – K.C. Baker