Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider has detailed the health problems that led him to step away from the band’s planned 50th-anniversary reunion tour in 2026, saying he can’t keep performing at the intensity he’s known for without risking serious consequences. Speaking on a recent podcast appearance, Snider said he is not facing a terminal condition but is dealing with worsening pain and heart-related issues that require significant changes.

In the conversation with “The Jasta Show” Snider cited growing degenerative arthritis throughout his body, heavy reliance on painkillers that began affecting other organs, and a diagnosis of hypertension along with heart issues that he said means he has to “calm the f**k down.”

: “I’m not dying anytime soon. But I am dealing with issues that if I don’t deal with them, I could kill myself. And my dad is 95 years old, and my mom, before she got hit by the car, God bless her, she was as healthy as a horse at 85… I’ve got longevity, but I can’t do the things I do and expect to enjoy that longevity, the things the way I did them.”

He continued: “My body’s been causing me problems with growing arthritis and degenerative arthritis through my shoulders, my neck, my arms. It’s worked down my legs. It’s throughout my body. It hurts all the time. And I was taking so many painkillers, and I’m not the drug guy. I’m not the drug guy, but when you’re in pain, you’re just looking for relief. But it was screwing up my other organs, because you can’t take even Advil. You start downing them by the handful, and before you know it, that’s what you’re doing all day long. You start hurting the liver, the kidneys or other organs in your body. And that started to become an issue for me. It was really when they discovered that I have hypertension and some heart issues that I have to address, and by addressing it means I gotta calm the f**k down.”

Snider also said his physical style onstage is difficult to dial back, pointing to Slayer’s Tom Araya as an example of a performer limited by neck problems and admitting he isn’t sure he could stop himself from going full-throttle. He added that his children urged him to step aside, telling him to stop because they feared he would “kill” himself if he continued under the same demands.

“Tom Araya was a thrasher in his heart of hearts to the bitter end, but his neck gave out, as they do, and he could no longer [thrash around like he used to], as you know, in the years with Slayer. And it hurt him. I read it. He said, ‘The fact that I can’t throw down’ — I’m paraphrasing — ‘with the audience. I can’t bang and thrash, whip my head around like I used to do,’ he said, ‘it makes me sad that I can’t do that.’ … And I’m not trashing Tom — please don’t take it as that — I’m applauding him and I’m commiserating with him and that feeling. I just don’t know if I could stop myself. … That’s the thing — I don’t think I can… But the point is I don’t know if I could do it. I don’t know if I could stop myself. I don’t know if I would want to… My kids sat me down and said, ‘Please stop’ — some were crying — ‘because you are gonna kill yourself,’ ’cause they know who I am.”

“When I told the band I’m leaving the band and I’m not doing the reunion shows, there was a lot of trying to — I’ll put it in the nicest way possible — accommodate me and make it workable. ‘We’ll have medical technicians. We’ll wheel you on and off stage. I’m gonna get the same crew that handled Mick Mars [who is suffering with degenerative bone condition ankylosing spondylitis], wheel him out on stage, go do the show.’ They were offering me everything. And I wasn’t asking for all this stuff. And [my manager] Phil [Carson], said, ‘Dee, you cannot do this. I know you. I’ve stood on stage and watched you for decades. You cannot do this. You’ll hurt yourself.’ And he called the guys up and said, ‘He’s out. He cannot do this. So stop offering him everything in the world.’ And I love the guys, because it wasn’t like a lack of caring or whatever. Now once you get in the head that we’re gonna do it, it got to be kind of this thing, like, this victory lap, and we weren’t even thinking about it and then all of a sudden it became a thing and it was exciting. But people who truly love me — I’m not saying the guys [in the band] don’t love me — told me, ‘Please don’t do this, because we know you and you can’t stop.’”

The decision follows earlier developments around the anniversary plans, including reports that Snider addressed claims involving Sebastian Bach’s pay after Bach was announced as the singer for the fall 2026 shows.

With Snider out, the reunion line-up is expected to feature Bach alongside guitarists Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda, with additional personnel changes also outlined. At the time of the report, only a September 4 stop at the Alaska State Fair had been publicly confirmed, with further dates yet to be announced.