Kevin Mazur/WireImageDeen Castronovo is no longer a member of Journey. In an interview this week with Oregon’s Statesman Journal, the drummer, who joined Journey in 1998, revealed that the band’s manager called him in August while he was in a rehab facility and let him know that he was fired.
“They had to,” Castronovo tells the newspaper. “They have an impeccable legacy, and I tarnished that. They didn’t fire me to punish me. They fired me because they love me and they wanted me to get help. They knew I couldn’t do it and be on the road.”
Castronovo’s removal from the group came after he was arrested in June following a drug-fueled incident during which he physically abused and harassed his now-ex-fiancee, Deidra. On October 12, Deen was sentenced four years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to two counts of fourth-degree assault, two counts of menacing, one count of unlawful use of a weapon, and one count of coercion.
In the interview, video portions of which are posted on the Statesman Journal‘s website, the 51-year-old musician apologizes and takes responsibility for his actions, insisting, “This is not about clearing my name…The only way I’m going to get my family’s trust back is to walk the walk. I’ve let everybody in the community down, everyone who ever put any faith and trust in me.”
Castronovo tells the Statesman Journal he’s been sober for more than 120 days, and recently completed a 75-day inpatient treatment program. He’s also is taking part in a voluntary 18-month post-treatment program that requires him to take daily breathalyzer tests and includes random urinalysis. In addition, Deen is enrolled in a 12-step recovery program, and he’s four weeks into a 36-week domestic-violence counseling program that’s part of his probation.
Castronovo admits when he was arrested, he was on a 24-day methamphetamine binge, but tells the paper he knows he can’t blame drugs for his violent actions.
“Domestic violence is really a choice, and it is calculated,” he says. “The drugs and the alcohol exacerbated it immensely, but there’s no excuse for what I did.”
With regard to his abusive actions, Castronovo says, “I know I will never downplay or minimize what I did, but I have to forgive myself. It doesn’t have to be a lifetime pattern. People can change.”
A few days before his conversation with the Statesman Journal, Castronovo issued a statement in which he apologized “to Deidra, her family, my family, my band-mates in Journey and the fans of Journey.” He added, “I’m sorry I let you all down. I have hit my bottom and I’m taking the necessary steps to ensuring that this never happens again.”
Deen also noted in the message that if his ex-fiancee hadn’t called the police back in June, he’d “probably be dead.” Castronovo says he plans to “focus on my family, finding happiness in sobriety and helping others who might be going down the wrong path, to avoid destruction.”
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