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Didn’t get enough of Bret Michaels in our May issue? Here are some more questions from our candid interview with the rock star, who calls north Scottsdale his home when he’s not touring.

Did you go into Celebrity Apprentice 3 thinking you had any chances of winning?
Let’s just say they called me the longest shot…they had me voted off the show before I had my bags unpacked. I came to the hotel – I played León, Mexico, at the Forum the night before – I flew in, I got there late. At the end of the first day, Donald Trump looked at me and said, ‘You know Bret, you’re late, I’m surprised you made it at all,’ and then he made a comment that they never used. He said, ‘I doubt we’re gonna see you much after the next day or so.’ I’m really competitive…and I was like, OK, bring it, I’m ready to go. That night in my hotel room they brought me a to-go bag – literally they said, ‘Here’s a gift from Trump and all of us.’ I go, ‘What’s this?’ and they go, ‘It’s just an extra suitcase in case you need to pack anything.’ ‘Did anyone else get one of these?’ They go, ‘Not yet.’ I barely slept. I stayed awake all night figuring my plan out. I’m gonna do this, I don’t care what it takes, I’m gonna win this.

What, if anything, do you recall about your brain aneurism?
When I had my emergency appendectomy in San Antonio, they shipped me home, and when I got up to the house I shot People magazine in my garage in Scottsdale…for the 50 most intriguing people of last year. I got done with it, and the day after that I was sitting on my couch when my brain exploded, and I think about this – about how great the medical team is…here at St. Joseph Barrow, and even much more closer to me is the Thompson Peak one, and the emergency room there reacted so quickly. But you know, most times you go to an emergency room and they’re looking at me going, OK, Bret Michaels – he probably partied or fell on his head…he goes, ‘Have you done any amphetamines, cocaine?’ and I’m like, ‘Nothing.’ I said, ‘I wish I could tell you that was the case but it’s not,’ and they literally within 40 minutes had turned me around, time enough for me to live and for them to get in and reduce the bleed and whatever they did, because I didn’t remember the next three days at all. The next three days will be missing from my life…. Thank god I was in Phoenix, Arizona where the medical here is almost second to none.

How did you pass the time while recovering in the hospital?
I read Jimmy Buffet’s book. I needed to be put in a good mood, so I read really fun positive books like Searching for Joe Merchant or Margaritales from Margaritaville. But mostly I was so focused on saying this is not going stop me. I’ve got my family, my daughters.

What was the scariest moment you experienced through all of your health scares of the past year?
I remember it vividly. It lives in my mind; it breathes in my mind, and that moment was when I went in with the brain bleed and I didn’t know what was happening but I knew, being a diabetic my whole life, I knew I was in serious trouble. I thought I had an aneurism, maybe I had a tumor no one found. When I had the hemorrhage, I gotta be honest, my body kicked into complete survival mode, like it went into this complete adrenaline-driven survival mode, and when we got [to the hospital] the scariest moment was when the doctor said, ‘I know you have daughters…if you have children, I’d bring them to the hospital.’ He was saying this to Kristi in the room, and she said, ‘Is it serious?’ and he goes, ‘He has a significant brain bleed…and it’s life or death, there’s no in between, it’s pretty severe.’ At that moment, I looked at him and I said to him, ‘Am I dying?’ and he goes, ‘Well, you’re in a lot of trouble right now.’ He goes, ‘I’m not gonna lie to you, we need to get you to Barrow right now,’ and I was like, OK, that didn’t help me, but in a weird way, because he said that I went into complete fighter mode…. For me, I didn’t have my life flash before me or dream of a big concert. The only thing I thought about was, I was sad that I wouldn’t get to see my family and I wouldn’t get to see my kids grow up. My soul got sad. I wasn’t thinking what do I do, what book didn’t I read, did I not skydive. I’m going, how weird is this that you’re in a room filled with good people but strangers – except for Kristi I didn’t know anyone in that room, and I’m like, this is how I’m gonna go out? This is so strange, and honestly, from that moment on they drugged me up pretty good, and I said, ‘You can saw my head open right now, I don’t care, whatever you gotta do, just save me.’

How have you managed to stay so positive through what seems like a lifetime of health complications?
I have lived a crazy life. I have done things I absolutely should not have done. It’s the fight…it’s mentally staying in the game. That motivation, that 150 percent I give to be positive. I have days where sometimes, I’m not gonna lie, it can also go negative and I try not to let it stay there very long because it drives me the same amount of speed to go the other direction. So it’s a balance and mostly it’s just been staying positive or convincing myself to stay positive.

You’re a musician, a philanthropist, a producer, filmmaker, actor, etc. Which of these things do you consider yourself to be first and foremost?
I consider myself, without a doubt, a conglomeration of all those things, but the one that is my main love is music.

How do you feel about the way music is being shared and distributed now?
The Internet is unbelievably fantastic. I think like anything, like any instrument, it can be good and bad, it depends on how you use it, and here’s what’s great about the digital age we live in: The world is open to your music. They punch in your name, they can find you, they’re in Europe, they’re in Australia, they’re in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.…I think you have to accept change. No doubt I loved albums when we had them, cassettes were fantastic, but I was happy when we went to CDs. I keep all that stuff, I love it, but you don’t want to live in your glory days. I want today to be my glory day. I dream big but I live in the moment.

What are your earliest memories of music?
My dad loved country music – real traditional country music. My mom loved more a little of the Beatles, the Stones, Elvis…they both agreed on Elvis. Those were my memories of driving in the car. My dad worked at the Navy base in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, but also worked at Armco Steel in Pittsburgh, so we’d go back and forth on the turnpike a lot, and that’s why I have such traveling Jones. I love driving. I drive a lot back and forth between L.A. and here by myself. I get in the car, I throw on music, and I just drive….I literally get that feeling of when I was a kid and would drive with my family and listen to music and loved it.

You’ve said you can handle the physical rigors of your upcoming tour this summer, but if something happens to your health, will you know when to quit?
I will do what I absolutely need to do. One is to take care of myself. Trust me, I didn’t want any of this medical stuff to happen, I’m just dealing with it the best I can. I don’t want to die. I’m going to push on as much as I can, but I know when – just like when I had the emergency appendectomy done, I knew, as much as I fought it, I knew halfway through the day it wasn’t a stomach flu or it wasn’t a virus, and yes, I would at that point go get the medical care I needed, but the minute they give me the OK, that I’m even remotely OK, I’m going right back out.