Gillian Lauren, the estranged wife of Weezer bassist Scott Schreiner, is speaking out after a tumultuous year that made headlines.
Lauren was arrested for attempted murder after being shot by police in April and filed for divorce from Schreiner earlier this month.
The author was shot and killed by a police officer in Los Angeles after thwarting a police pursuit.
After police barricaded the Eagle Rock neighborhood, 52-year-old Lauren left her home with a handgun. She was told multiple times by law enforcement to drop the gun, but she refused and pointed the gun at police.
A police officer then shot her and she fled into her home.
“I was doing my best to protect my family,” she said in an interview with Rolling Stone published Saturday. “That impulse was self-defense.”
“My world shattered all around me in an instant,” she said of the aftermath. “It’s like spending your whole life putting a whole deck of cards in order. And then one day you just take them out and throw them in the air, and I’m still waiting to see how they land.”
Lauren is currently enrolled in a two-year mental health diversion program. She said she suffers from PTSD.
“I’m a survivor of sex trafficking and domestic violence. … When the headline said ‘Mental Health Turnaround,’ what I really thought was, ‘Okay, great. People are so afraid to talk about this.’ I’m in a position to be able to talk about it.”
“I had to go back and address my trauma to understand who I am and my actions,” she said.
Regarding her divorce filing from Schreiner after 20 years of marriage, Lauren told the show that the two had been estranged for years and that the incident was a “crisis” point.
“Divorce is hard. I don’t care who you are,” she said.
But she still considers Schreiner, 60, her “best friend.” The couple have two adopted children, Tariq Moon and Giovanni “Jovi” Starshine.
“We still have beautiful children and have always really supported each other through our various transitions,” she said.
“We are growing people,” she continued. “We’re passionate people. We’re creative people. We want to change and grow together. We’ve grown apart.”
A representative for Schreiner did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
