Steven Tyler says he fell in a bathroom shower in Paraguay because he was sick from food poisoning.

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Tyler, who injured his eye and lost two teeth in Tuesday's fall, is with his band touring in South America. He told NBC's Today show Thursday morning he walked into the shower "got nauseous (from food poisoning), started to get sick and I fell on my face and I just passed out."

The 63-year-old singer and "American Idol" host said he received four stitches near his eye.

"I walked out of the shower looking like Leon Spinks," he told Today host Matt Lauer, in a telephone interview, as photos of his battered face and gap-toothed grin were shown, MSNBC reported.

Tyler, who has struggled with addiction in the past, said he wants to clear-up speculation that he's relapsed. "That's not the issue," he said. "It's nothing I don't understand. It makes me a little upset. But I get that people think that. It's something that bothers me and it's something I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life."