The ex-wife of Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland has written an open letter asking fans not to glorify the tragedy of his death.

The singer - who was found dead on his tour bus last week - had battled addiction for many years.

Mary Forsberg Weiland co-wrote the letter with their teenage children Noah and Lucy.

"The truth is, like so many other kids, they lost their father years ago," she wrote, via Rolling Stone.

Weiland struggled with substance abuse issues for many years, as well as bipolar disorder.

He told Blabbermouth earlier this year, "I haven't had a needle in my arm in thirteen years."

"Overcoming my addiction to heroin was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I'm damn proud of the fact that the time in my life when drugs were stronger than my commitment to my health is so far behind me, and always will be."

However, Ms Forsberg Weiland wrote: "You might ask, 'How were we to know? We read that he loved spending time with his children and that he'd been drug-free for years!'

"In reality, what you didn't want to acknowledge was a paranoid man who couldn't remember his own lyrics and who was only photographed with his children a handful of times in 15 years of fatherhood."

He chose to give up

"I won't say he can rest now, or that he's in a better place. He belongs with his children barbecuing in the backyard and waiting for a Notre Dame game to come on. We are angry and sad about this loss, but we are most devastated that he chose to give up," she continued.

Rather than "glorify(ing) this tragedy" she has urged fans to consider their own families.

"Skip the depressing T-shirt with 1967-2015 on it - use the money to take a kid to a ballgame or out for ice cream."

Ms Forsberg Weiland married the frontman in May 2000. They divorced in 2007.

Read the whole letter here.