Eddie Vedder still hasn't "dealt" with the grief of losing Chris Cornell.

The Pearl Jam frontman has opened up about his struggle to accept that the Soundgarden and Audioslave star is no longer here, and admitted he has been "somewhat in denial" since the late 'Black Hole Sun' hitmaker's death from suicide in 2017, because he's "terrified" of entering a "dark" place.

Speaking on 'The Howard Stern Show', Vedder said: “I’ve had to be somewhat in denial.

“I don’t even feel like I had a choice. I was just terrified where I would go if I allowed myself to feel what I needed to feel or what I was instinctively wanting to feel or how dark I felt like I was gonna go.

“And because I didn’t see him that often in the last 10 years – probably only, like, four or five times, and usually at a gig or something – I still haven’t quite dealt with it. I’ll get stronger as time goes.”

The 55-year-old rocker has fond memories of hanging out with his "close friend" in their home city of Seattle.

He added: “I would hang out with him outside of the band more than even the other band guys, and I didn’t know that many people in Seattle. So we would go on crazy hiking adventures, or we would go mountain biking, or we would chase the dog in the rain while drinking s***** beer— and it was cool.

“And it had nothing to do with anything like being around other music people or being around some kind of LA life. It was just cool. Like, wow, this is what a quote-unquote legit rock star, this is what he’s doing – he’s chasing a dog in the rain with his buddy on a Saturday night with a 12-pack of Schmidt?”