Saul Hudson was born in Hampstead, London. He was named for Saul Steinberg, an artist. His mother, Ola J. Hudson (nee Oliver; 1946-2009), was an African-American costume designer, whose clients included David Bowie, and his father, Anthony Hudson, is an English artist who created album covers for musicians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell., Of his mixed background, Slash later remarked, "As a musician, I've always been amused that I'm both British and black; particularly because so many American musicians seem to aspire to be British while so many British musicians, in the 'Sixties in particular, went to such great pains to be black."

On October 10, 1992, Slash married model-actress Renee Suran in Marina del Rey, California. They divorced in late 1997 after five years of marriage. Slash married Perla Ferrar on October 15, 2001, in Hawaii. They have two sons, London Emilio (born August 28, 2002) and Cash Anthony (born June 23, 2004). Slash filed for divorce from Ferrar in August 2010, but the couple reconciled two months later. In December 2014, he again filed for divorce. Afterwards, he moved in together with his girlfriend Meegan Hodges, whom he previously dated from 1989 until the beginning of the 1990s. Slash is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States. A British national since his London birth, he has resided in Los Angeles since 1971 but did not acquire American citizenship until 1996. He said in 2010, "I do consider myself British. I have very strong feelings about my British heritage. My first years were there, I went to school there, and I have seemingly endless family on that side of the pond. So I've always felt most comfortable in England." In 2001, at the age of 35, Slash was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a form of congestive heart failure caused by his many years of alcohol and drug abuse. Originally given between six days and six weeks to live, he survived through physical therapy and the implantation of a defibrillator. Slash has been clean and sober since 2005, which he credits to his then-wife Ferrar. In 2009, following his mother's death from lung cancer, he quit smoking. Slash has been recognized for his longtime contributions to establishing environmental welfare programs. He is a board trustee of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association and has long supported the Los Angeles Zoo and zoos around the world. Slash's love of reptiles was for many years a notable aspect of his public persona--with several of his many snakes appearing with him in music videos and photoshoots--until the birth of his first son in 2002 forced him to rehome his collection. Slash's friendship with Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose soured following his departure from the band. In 2006, Rose claimed that Slash had shown up at his house uninvited the previous year to offer a truce. He alleged that Slash had insulted his Velvet Revolver bandmates, telling Rose that he considered Scott Weiland "a fraud" and Duff McKagan "spineless", and that he "hated" Matt Sorum. Slash denied the accusations. In his 2007 autobiography he admitted to visiting Rose's home with the intention to settle a longstanding legal dispute and make peace with his former bandmate. He claims, however, that he did not speak with Rose and instead merely left a note. Slash maintains that he had not spoken with Rose in person since 1996. In 2009, in response to a statement by Rose in which he referred to Slash as "a cancer", Slash commented: "It doesn't really affect me at all... It's been a long time. The fact that he has anything to say at all, it's like, 'Whatever, dude.' It doesn't really matter." In an August 2015 interview, Slash stated that he is now on good terms with Rose. Slash also rejoined Guns N' Roses in 2016. CANNOTANSWER

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