Nikki Sixx apologises for bizarre rape story in Motley Crue memoir: 'It's possibly greatly embellished or I made it up'

Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx has apologised over a story published in the band's 2001 memoir The Dirt where he realises he may have participated in a sexual assault.

The book, which was written by the band with author Neil Strauss, includes an account from a party where Sixx claims a woman he knew pulled him into a small room, where they began having sex.

Soon after, Sixx claims he left the room then returned with bandmate Tommy Lee, and tricked the woman into having sex with him. "We f***ed for a while, then I told her I had to go to the bathroom," Sixx says in the book. "I went into the party and found Tommy. 'Dude, come here.' I grabbed him. 'I got this chick in the closet. Follow me, and don't say a word. When I tell you, start f***ing her.'

"In the closet, I stood directly behind Tommy," Sixx continues. "He f****ed her while she grabbed my hair and yelled, 'Oh Nikki! Nikki!'"

Sixx says that he didn't remember the incident when he woke up the next day, until the woman called him and said she had been raped the night before. However, she said her attacker was a man who picked her up while she was trying to hitchhike home.

In the book, Sixx says the story made him realise he had "probably gone too far."

"At first, I was relieved, because it meant I hadn't raped her," he says. "But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I pretty much had. I was in a zone though, and in that zone, consequences did not exist. Besides, I was capable of sinking even lower than that."

Asked about the excerpt by Rolling Stone, Sixx said he did not recall the story because The Dirt was written "during a really low point in my life". He blamed alcohol and drug use for why he did not recall many of the interviews he did with Strauss.

"I went into rehab in 2001 and really wish I would've done my interviews after I was clean and sober like I am today. I don't actually recall that story in the book beyond reading it. I have no clue why it's in there other than I was outta my head and it's possibly greatly embellished or [I] made it up. Those words were irresponsible on my part. I am sorry."

The Dirt forms the basis for a forthcoming Netflix film, which will be released on the streaming service on 22 March. It stars Douglas Booth as Sixx, Machine Gun Kelly as Lee, Daniel Webber as Vince Neil, and Iwan Rheon as Mick Mars.