Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh reconnected with daughter after becoming sober: How she found forgiveness

Lucy Walsh was just 12 years old when she really got to know her biological father, Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh.

At the time, the rocker had gotten sober and went back to work with the band after living in the fast lane for years.

"Before that, I didn’t know him very well," the actress and fellow musician told Fox News Digital. "I would see him maybe once a year, and it was like Christmas. Getting to see my dad this one time of year was just so exciting. But then he would go away again, and I wouldn’t know when the next time I was going to see him was."

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Lucy Walsh, an actress and singer, is the daughter of Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh. (Badar Howar)

"So, when he got sober, and I was 12, my life changed," she shared. "My dad wasn’t working that much in the music business. He’d been very famous before that. But during my young life, he wasn’t very active. And then when he rejoined the Eagles, I realized my dad is … a very big deal. And it was shocking to me. I write about it in the book as being one of the first concerts they played [at the time]."

The 41-year-old has written a new memoir, "Remember Me as Human: What Three Final Days with My Grandmother Wanda Taught Me About Truly Living." It explores her relationship with her maternal grandmother, Wanda, before she died in 2011. The matriarch passed away four months after Walsh interviewed her in her nursing home.

In the book, Walsh reflects on her life, including her relationship with her father, 76.

Lucy Walsh has written a new book, "Remember Me as Human." (Parting Glass Publishing)

"I had always heard stories about my dad from the press," she admitted. "Kids would bring magazines to school with pretty disturbing information. And I had never spoken to him about these things. But as I got to know him as a person … it’s the same thing that I realized with my grandmother. I got to know his humanity. I got to see him as a full person, not just my dad or some guy in these magazine stories. … It’s seeing your parents as a person, as a human. Forgiving them for their trespasses is what I think becoming an adult is about. It’s about granting them empathy and mercy for things you think might’ve been mistakes in the past."

Lucy Walsh interviewed her grandmother for three days before the matriarch passed away in 2011. (Justin Piccari)

"With Dad, it’s been a lot because he’s in the public eye," Walsh continued. "His mistakes get printed in the news. And so, there’s been a lot of hearsay that I have been able to talk through now with him as an adult and come to terms with who he really is. And love him for who he is."

Joe joined the Eagles after becoming friends with Don Henley and Glenn Frey, People magazine reported. As the band skyrocketed to fame, so did his dependence on drugs and alcohol. When the group broke up in 1980, Walsh’s addiction worsened. According to the outlet, he turned to alcohol to cope with severe stage fright.

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From left: Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Randy Meisner, Glenn Frey and Don Felder of the Eagles pose for a portrait in 1977. (Michael Ochs Archives)

The outlet noted that in 1994, Henley and Frey had plans to get the Eagles back together, and they would only do it with a sober Walsh. The pair, as well as manager Irving Azoff, approached Walsh with their proposition, and they eventually reunited for the album "Hell Freezes Over."

In the book, Walsh described seeing her father on stage for the first time.

"It was a live televised taping for VH1," she recalled. "I was sitting in the audience between Whoopi Goldberg and Claudia Schiffer … the roar of that audience just brought me to tears. I was just so overwhelmed by it all. And then we spent a lot of great time together."

Joe Walsh of the Eagles performs live in New York in October 1979. (Michael Putland)

"I’ve got to thank my mother," Walsh shared. "She never spoke badly about my father to me, which a lot of women do with their children. And I’m very grateful that she gave me that gift because I didn’t have any negativity about my dad in my head. She always told him, ‘When you get sober, I’ll be right there to make sure that you and Lucy have a relationship.’ And she really did. She made it possible for my dad and I to become very close after that."

Walsh said that her grandmother’s upbringing in Illinois changed her viewpoint on fame. Sitting down with Wanda during her final months, in particular, taught her that fame is just "smoke and mirrors." Famous people are just people with their own problems.

"I remember when I was 12, [my dad] bought the red Mustang from one of the James Bond movies, and we would drive it around," said Walsh. "I would think, ‘We can speed because he’s invincible. Nothing can hurt us because he’s famous.’ … But my mom’s side of the family lived such a normal life that it changed my perspective on fame."

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Lucy Walsh said she grew up with two loving, supportive fathers. (Justin Piccari)

Growing up with two fathers, Walsh said she was exposed to "two different worlds." Her stepfather "was not famous" but was a stable, loving force in her life.

"When I was younger, I was very torn," she said. "I felt guilty for wanting a relationship with my biological father, even though he wasn’t really around. … It tore me in half for a long time. The great thing about it is that both dads are very supportive of each other. That gave me the freedom to love them both without having to hang onto that guilt any longer."

But it wasn’t just the men that gave Walsh valuable lessons in living. Wanda taught her the importance of forgiving one’s parents.

Lucy Walsh said she learned many life lessons from her maternal grandmother Wanda. (Justin Piccari)

"I learned a lot about my grandparents as people who were young and trying to figure out life and making mistakes and messing up," she noted. "And you don’t think of your grandparents that way. … But they were young and vibrant once, just like us."

"The most important thing my grandmother taught me about life became the title of my book," she said. "She stood for embracing our humanity and our imperfections. And that’s the message I hope to pass along with this book. Let’s celebrate our humanity, the messy, contradictory, pathetic, glorious humanity that we all share, instead of trying to be so perfect and polished. Remember me as human is what my grandmother taught me, and that’s what we should all wish to be remembered as."

Walsh said she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of collaborating with her father.

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Lucy Walsh teased that she and her father, Joe Walsh, could be collaborating on a special project. (Joey Foley/FilmMagic)

"We have some things planned," she teased. "[Music] is our unspoken bond. No matter what’s going on in life, we can always come together and connect through our music. … I was doing a reality show on MTV and … my dad and I got to perform together and there were women in the audience flashing their t--s. My dad has a song called ‘I Like Big T--s’ that follows him around. … But the future projects will be a little classier than that. … When you’ve got a rock star father, you just have to accept some things."