Alice Cooper Admits Taking No Responsibility for Ex's Pregnancy: 'One-in-Five Chance I Was the Dad'

Alice Cooper has admitted that he took no responsibility when his late former girlfriend Cindy Lang became pregnant. In his new memoir Devil on My Shoulder, he recalls reassuring himself there was only a one-in-five chance he was the father.

Passages reported by Entertainment Weekly on 12 October describe Lang arranging an abortion in Detroit while Cooper remained behind. He says he could not afford even her plane ticket, admitting his inaction and regret over being unable to provide financial help.

Cooper Describes His Response to the Pregnancy

'I never took any responsibility,' Cooper writes of his reaction to the pregnancy. He says it happened around a year into their relationship, at a time when neither felt ready for parenthood. He recalls bringing Lang to his parents' home in Arizona, despite their disapproval of the couple having sex outside marriage.

The memoir also describes his uncertainty about paternity. Cooper claims neither he nor Lang was faithful during that period, while acknowledging his own behaviour rather than presenting himself as blameless.

'I told myself there was only a one-in-five chance I was the dad,' he writes. That wording matters: Cooper is recalling how he reasoned at the time. The figure does not establish who the father was, and the published passages provide no basis for treating it as a medically determined probability.

Lang Arranged the Procedure, Cooper Says

According to Cooper's account, Lang raised the money for the abortion herself. He says the band was not earning enough to cover the cost and that marriage was not a realistic prospect for them then.

He did not accompany her to Detroit. His recollection combines an admission of inaction with regret about being unable to provide financial help.

These details are Cooper's retrospective account of an intimate episode in their relationship. They do not provide an independent account from Lang, who died in 2017.

Cooper also places the episode within his religious upbringing. He describes his church as regarding abortion as a sin, but says its response focused on private repentance and spiritual counselling rather than public political campaigning. That description is his characterisation of the church's approach.

A Memoir About the Man Behind the Stage Persona

Devil on My Shoulder, written with Daniel Richler, was published by Da Capo in the United States on 6 October. Cooper's official announcement listed 8 October for the UK edition from Ebury Spotlight.

The book examines the relationship between the performer born Vincent Damon Furnier and the theatrical character that became his legal name. Alice Cooper originally named the band before becoming the identity of its frontman.

In the publisher's description, Cooper promises to revisit his addictions, periods of lost memory, professional success and decline, as well as guilt over people who were hurt during his life. Faith is another stated theme. The book's publicity describes his sober, religious private life alongside the macabre figure audiences know from the stage.

The singer's official announcement also outlined an eight-date UK book tour accompanying publication. The memoir covers a career spanning more than six decades, including the development of the stage persona that made Cooper one of rock's most recognisable performers.