DAVE MUSTAINE Says DAVID ELLEFSON Helped Him Save His Marriage

During an interview with MagentaMusik 360's Sara Kelly-Husain at last month's Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine was asked how he has managed to keep his marriage together for more than two and a half decades. He jokingly said (see video below),"I think [my wife's] friends think she's desperate," before adding: "You've gotta work on it. Anything worth having is worth keeping and you've gotta work at it. It helps that we're friends first and foremost; it wasn't just physical."

Later in the chat, Mustaine revealed that he would "be divorced right now if it wasn't for [MEGADETH bassist] David Ellefson challenging me and saying, 'Have you been the best husband you could possibly be?' 'Cause [my wife and I] were separated," he said. "And I went, 'You know what? No, I haven't been the best husband I could be. I could be way better.' And I went back, and that's where we had this renaissance and fell in love again. And it's been really great."

Mustaine continued: "I think that that's a great challenge for a lot of men that are married out there: are you the best husband you can possibly be? Who cares if she is the best wife that she is? If you are the best husband you can possibly be, if she don't hitch her wagon up to your horses, then you know what? You're gonna eventually pull away anyway."

Mustaine married Pamela Anne Casselberry in 1991. They have one son, Justis, born in 1992, and a daughter, Electra, born in 1998. The family has lived in Arizona and Fallbrook, California and currently resides just outside Nashville, Tennessee.

Mustaine reportedly filed for divorce twice around a decade ago — in May 2006 and then again in February 2008 — only to apparently change his mind and withdraw the petitions.

In a March 2007 interview with "The Radio 1 Rock Show with Daniel P. Carter" on BBC Radio 1, Mustaine spoke about about how his family life has been affected by MEGADETH's extensive touring. "There needs to be time off in between each leg for me to nurture my family, because I just resolved heading for divorce, and that was really a terrible thing," he said.

"Over the years, it never really worked well because the music was always first. It ain't anymore… Because my family is first… Well, my family is actually second," he added. "My faith is first, and then my family is second, and then the music is third. So because everything else is going so good, when I go into the guitar world and I put on my little headphones and pick up my guitar, it's like, 'Okay, now it's time to unleash the beast and to really, really just get it on.'"

MEGADETH's tour with SCORPIONS kicked off on September 14 in Reading, Pennsylvania and will conclude on October 15 in Tampa, Florida.