Nearly 30 years after meeting his wife, Susan Holmes McKagan, Guns N’ Roses bandmate Duff McKagan is opening up about how the model and TV personality has changed his life for the better. 

During a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, the musician discussed his marriage to Susan and what it means to him. “We give each other room. We really dig each other in every specific way you could imagine. And she takes my breath away, still. When she walks into the room, her perfume, that smell, I’m like, ‘Ohhhhh.’ So I’m fortunate; I know that.”

Although he’s away on tour a lot, Duff McKagan says it doesn’t bother Susan. “Absence definitely makes her heart grow fonder,” he continued. “But we can be together as much as we’re apart and we f—ing cherish the time together.”

McKagan also spoke about how Susan inspired the title of his third solo LP, Lighthouse. He described it as a straight-up love song to his wife. “The song was this simple little three-chord thing. I came up with these melodies and these words, ‘Won’t you be my lighthouse?’— and I knew immediately that’d be about Susan giving me light and bringing me home.”

Duff McKagan Recalls Meeting His Wife Susan For the First Time 

While continuing to chat about his marriage, Duff McKagan reflected on first meeting Susan. The couple had met through their mutual friend, John “Stain” Stainbrook. 

“He’s like, ‘I know you haven’t dated for a couple of years, but she’s great. She’s amazing. She’s a model – but don’t let that scare you away,’” McKagan recalled. “I don’t know if that scared me away or nothin’.” 

Duff McKagan also said that he met Susan during the two years of him just being sober. He admitted that he wasn’t sure if he could date a woman again at the time. “I don’t know how… I’ve got no game or whatever the f— you have to have at 32 years old. I’m sober and reading books – what woman’s going to like some book nerd?”

Despite being skeptical about dating, McKagan gave the situation a chance and called Susan. “We talked on the phone first and it was like this, ‘F—!’” he recalled. “And then she picked me up at the airport and we went to dinner and it was on. I mean, it was just on.”

Three years later, McKagan and Holmes married in August 1999. They share two children, Grace and Mae, and now live in Seattle.