Courtney Love

Courtney Love Gives Frances Bean Boyfriend Advice Via Twitter

11 May 2010 17:03:52 EDT

Hole frontwoman reaches out to estranged daughter, 140 characters at a time.
By James Montgomery

Early Monday morning, Courtney Love had what she referred to as a "Twitter relapse," and, boy, was it a doozy.

While most of the world was asleep, the Hole frontwoman — who, in recent weeks, has embarked on a rather thorough career rehabilitation plan — launched an all-out Twit-missive toward her estranged daughter, Frances Bean, of whom she lost legal guardianship late last year. Love tweeted Frances nearly 40 times over the course of an hour.

In the tweets, Love gives her daughter a whole lot of relationship advice ("don't have an assistant as a boyfriend"), begs her to "clear my name," apologizes for not marrying a man who may very well be Edward Norton, says she misses spending time with her and concludes by saying she's going to go chant (and delete "half" of the messages).

The impetus behind the outburst was apparently a photo Love saw of Frances holding hands with her boyfriend backstage at last month's Coachella festival.

"Bean, I saw you at Coachella with [her boyfriend, who may be named Isaiah] in a pic. He looks sweet and like your dad actually," Love wrote. "I hope he takes care of you and you look beautiful, even though you have an angry furrow. ... I think that's called your 'lawyer lie' furrow."

And from there, Love started picking up steam, writing that she "won't tolerate" being named on "worst mothers lists" and that she plans on fighting for Frances, even if it means going to court.

"The last thing I look forward to in this life is any trial, but I'm a good mother and I won't allow you to believe such nonsense, so suit up," she wrote. "I love you, sorry to take to the world wide Ethernet, but I love you and I don't know how to tell you without telling one of the pack, madly."

After that, she went back to weighing in on Frances' relationship with her boyfriend, warning that if he treats her wrong, "I'll get him."

"There's plenty of fish in the sea lining up for both of us, who will treat us like princesses and not 2nd class citizens, or damaged goods," she wrote. "I know you have that in you, if he's not treating you like the goddess you are, baby, get the hell out, do not settle. Give them a little time, and if they don't man up, then woman out. That's my advice to you. And don't date a slave, or an assistant, that's no fun."

Love then apologized to Frances "for not marrying E." In the late '90s, she dated actor Edward Norton and was reportedly engaged to him, so that may be the man to whom she's referring. Then she rattled off a list of do's and don'ts for making a relationship work, including: "Make sure you laugh a lot, and try to have a spiritual connection," "Don't get him presents and don't vie for him, don't over-text," and "don't take any sh-- from that boy. ... If he's not a prince and a MAN, he doesn't deserve you, period."

Love concluded by writing that she "prays" for Frances every day, and that she "miss[es] [her] more than anyone has ever missed anyone." She apologized for using Twitter to reach out to her daughter and said that she did so because "the boy stuff you need to hear only from me. ... Wendy [Kurt Cobain's mother, and Frances' court-appointed guardian] is too boy crazy."

A spokesperson for Love had no comment about the incident when contacted by MTV News.

Does Courtney actually have some good points in her messages to Frances Bean? What would you do if your mother tweeted you advice this way? Sound off in the comments.

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Courtney Love Says She 'Might Be A Bitch'

30 Apr 2010 16:01:00 EDT

But she's neither skinny, nor little, she says of her inspiration for lead single 'Skinny Little Bitch.'
By James Montgomery

The greatest thing (or, alternately, the saddest) about Hole's "Skinny Little Bitch" — the growling, guttural first single off their Nobody's Daughter album — is that it could have been written yesterday. Or five years ago. Or, as Courtney Love puts it: "I could've written it tomorrow."

That's because, over the past few years, there's been no shortage of skinny celebutantes parading through popular culture, and regretfully, the trend doesn't show any signs of ebbing. Which is part of the reason Love (together with Hole guitarist Micko Larkin) wrote it in the first place. For better or worse, the subject matter appears to be timeless.

"It just felt zeitgeist. It just felt right," Love laughed during an interview with MTV News. "There are so many skinny little bitches doing so many bad things. It was like, remember when Paris Hilton used to say 'That's hot?' ... It was just the right phrase for the right time."

Not surprisingly, "Bitch" has already become a staple on modern rock radio, though that probably has as much to do with its sentiment as it does with its snarl — a buzz-saw wall of guitars, courtesy of Larkin, and Love's unearthly wailing on the chorus. Quite frankly, though, it comes down to the current single itself. It's a song that would have sounded equally at home on Hole's 1999 album Celebrity Skin.

And while, in recent years, Love has feuded with more than her fair share of skinny little things, she maintains that the titular "Bitch" she's screaming about doesn't actually exist. Not yet, anyway.

"We haven't found her yet," Love said, with a laugh. "A lot of reviews have focused on whether the 'Skinny Little Bitch' is me, except I've only become skinny [in my 40s]. I only figured out how — when I'm stressed, instead of overeating, under-eating — in my 40s. And I've never been little. I'm 5'11"; there's a lot of me. So I'm not really skinny, nor am I little. I might be a bitch though."

What are your thoughts on the first single from the Hole album? Tell us in the comments!

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Courtney Love Tries To Ignore Billy Corgan's 'Spazzing'

29 Apr 2010 18:55:00 EDT

'I don't feel like having the rock-star fight,' she tells MTV News of Smashing Pumpkins frontman Twitter attack.
By James Montgomery

During her appearance earlier this week on the "Late Show With David Letterman," Courtney Love made it abundantly clear that she's a changed woman. Speaking frankly, Love opened up about her battles with drugs, her (very public) outbursts and her stints in rehab.

It would appear that, along with a brand-new Hole album — the snarling-yet-strangely sensitive Nobody's Daughter hit stores earlier this week — she also has a new outlook on life. As if to prove it, the singer is brushing aside online barbs lobbed at her by Billy Corgan.

See, on the same day she appeared on Letterman's show, Corgan — Love's onetime flame and frequent collaborator — launched an all-out Twitter attackon her. Corgan accused her of stealing songs he wrote, advised her to "go ... live off your husband's money" and, to top it all, brought into the fray Love's relationship with her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, of whom she lost guardianship earlier this year.

Had this happened just a year ago, Love probably would have raged mightily. Instead, she offered only a few, relatively demure Twitter replies and then moved on with her life. This is, after all, the new Courtney Love.

"I don't know what he's spazzing about. It's just so strange," Love told MTV News on Thursday (April 29). "I'm trying to just be Teflon about it. ... He did it last time [Love released an album, 2004's solo America's Sweetheart]. and it's nothing new, and it's not an accident, I think, that he did it on the day of release [of Nobody's Daughter]. And then he went after the kid, and it was like, 'Dude, man, that's creepy.' I just find that creepy.

"He's always been really obsessed with his place in the drama with Kurt [Cobain] and me, and yet, he doesn't really have a place," Love continued. "Even though I respect Billy sonically, and as a talent, Kurt didn't. So when he titled a record Pisces Iscariot in the '90s, it really cheesed me off. Because he was referring to his star sign and Kurt's star sign and that he had somehow had something to do with something in our marriage, when our marriage, for what it was — very short and brief — [it was] pretty flawless."

Although she appeared to be finished, Love paused for a second and then went on about Corgan. This time, she got a few jabs in. She is, after all, still Courtney Love. "I've never seen anyone so talented, so f---ing talented, blow their mojo [the way Corgan has]. Maybe it's because he has all the money. He got all the money. He is so rich. He's, like, Oprah-rich. ... He invested really well," she laughed.

"I can't really theorize on it, other than to say I don't understand. ... I don't know what his problem is, but when you bring in my kid, that just pisses me off. But I don't feel like having the rock-star fight. People are like, 'Watch Courtney and Billy fight!' No, I'm not fighting."

Not anymore, at least.

What do you think of Courtney taking the high road in her feud with Billy Corgan? Let us know in the comments!

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Courtney Love Recalls Hazy 'Letterman Years' On 'Late Show'

28 Apr 2010 11:55:00 EDT

Newly sober singer sat down with David Letterman for first time since 2004 flashing incident.
By Gil Kaufman

The last time Courtney Love visited "The Late Show With David Letterman," she famously lifted up her shirt and flashed the normally unflappable host in one of her legendary shambolic public spectacles.

Now 45 and sober, Love stopped by the show on Tuesday night for the first time since that 2004 incident and explained to Letterman that she is a changed woman.

"They had to douse me out and clean off and pick all the little things out of my hair," she said when Letterman sounded shocked at the long gap between their chats.

"It started when I came on this one talk show and got on someone's desk and took my shirt off and danced on it," Love said, looking down in mock embarrassment. She also revealed that right after the flashing incident, the start of what she called her lost "Letterman years," Love got arrested that night, and then things kind of went to hell for the next three years.

"You're not blaming this on me, are you?" Letterman asked, concerned. When asked what her "bottom" was, the moment when she realized she needed help and had fallen into the abyss, Love said succinctly, "Your desk."

Probed further about what had prompted her to disrobe during that visit, Love explained, "Drew Barrymore had done it when she was 19, and I was so out of my mind when I did it, I thought I was 19. But I was actually 39."

For his part, Letterman deadpanned, "I enjoyed it. ... I don't want to be what they call an enabler ... but it seemed like you were at the top of your game to me." Love noted that the video of that appearance is still one of the first things that pops up on a Google search of her name.

The one-time grunge-pop icon claimed on Howard Stern's satellite radio show on Monday that she had a torrid eight-month affair with former Bush singer Gavin Rossdale while the rocker was also romancing his now-wife, Gwen Stefani. She was also not shy when telling Letterman about her struggles with illegal drugs.

"I did a lot of cocaine back then. I had bad people around me," she said. "I abused it. There's nothing else you can do with cocaine."

While in rehab, Love said she wrote apology letters to a number of people who'd been impacted by her drug-taking, among them Letterman; he confirmed that he'd gotten that letter.

Saying she is now sober, Love, wearing a demure cream-colored sleeveless top, black skirt and black hose, also claimed to have been addicted to unnamed pills and "everything bad" before entering rehab and getting cleaned up. She is currently promoting the new Hole album, the just released Nobody's Daughter.

What do you think of Courtney Love's latest revelations? Discuss in the comments.

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Courtney Love Not Changing Name, 'Unless It's To Big Baby Jesus'

21 Apr 2010 14:53:00 EDT

'The NME took it out of context,' Love's spokesperson says of 'Courtney Love is dead' proclamation.
By James Montgomery

If you believe everything you read, well then you're probably aware that Courtney Love is "dead."

That's according to basically every music site in the known universe, all of whom picked up on an interview Love gave to British mag NME in which she said she was ditching her stage name in favor of a new handle, "Courtney Michelle" (she was born Courtney Michelle Harrison).

"Courtney Love is dead," Love, er, Michelle, is quoted as saying. "We've all decided we don't like her anymore. We love her when she does onstage, but I don't need her in the rest of my life ... 'Courtney Love' is a way to oppress me."

It was a pretty interesting proclamation from a woman who is seemingly never short of them — the only problem? According to her camp, it wasn't true.

In an e-mail to MTV News, a spokesperson for Love wrote that the quote was taken "100 percent out of context," adding that, "She's not changing her name, unless it's to 'Courtney Love Mellencamp' or 'Big Baby Jesus.' "

O.D.B. would be proud. When asked for clarification about just who took Love's quotes out of context — NME or the thousands of websites that picked up on the story — the spokesperson said, "The NME took it out of context."

Love's quote appears verbatim in the current issue of the magazine, which hits newsstands in the U.K. on Wednesday (April 21) — it's right there at the top of page 25 — and in a trailer for the upcoming Love documentary from video on NME.com, and VBS.tv, she can be seen proclaiming, "The name Courtney Love feels like I've outgrown it. It was really, really fun to be Courtney Love for a long time, and then it became an ass-pain."

MTV News' requests for comment to NME were not responded to by press time.

Whatever you decide to call her, Love's band Hole will release their first album in nearly 12 years, Nobody's Daughter, in the U.S. on April 27.

Are you looking forward to Hole's new album? Let us know in the comments below!

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Frances Bean Cobain Court Papers Reportedly Mention Domestic Violence

23 Dec 2009 16:45:00 EST

Papers were filed in a motion to seal the guardianship proceeding of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain's daughter.
By Gil Kaufman

More details have emerged about the flurry of activity that recently resulted in Frances Bean Cobain filing a restraining order against her mom, rocker Courtney Love, just days after Love lost guardianship of the 17-year-old.

According to papers filed Monday in a motion to seal the guardianship proceeding, there are allegations of "personal problems in the family." TMZ allegedly obtained a copy of the papers, which discuss "a minor and allegations of domestic violence."

The nature and the instigator of the alleged domestic violence are not mentioned in the papers. Love was stripped of legal guardianship of Frances Bean on December 11, and a judge later issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Love from having contact with her only child with late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. No reason was given at the time for the issuance of the order, which prohibits Love from "certain behavior and from coming within a certain distance of Frances and her guardians."

The documents posted by TMZ also refer to a request to seal Frances Bean's medical records and claim that "in this proceeding, every document reveals details of Frances's relationship with her mother."

Frances is currently under the care of her grandmother and aunt. Though Love has made no official statement about the case, she has posted (and deleted) a series of rants on her Facebook page lashing out at Frances and her guardians.

Cobain's mother, Wendy O'Connor, and sister, Kimberly Dawn Cobain — Frances' grandmother and aunt, respectively — have argued that the case should proceed in private to protect Frances. "The merits of this motion cannot be fully argued here without disclosing the contents of the documents to be sealed," the court papers claim. A hearing is set for January 5 to make the restraining order permanent, and a February 10 date has been set to make the guardianship appointment permanent as well.

A spokesperson for Love could not be reached at press time.

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Back To The '90s: Kurt Cobain And Courtney Love On Parenthood

17 Dec 2009 15:33:00 EST

Kurt Cobain holds new baby Frances Bean in a 1992 interview and Courtney Love talks motherhood in '98.
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Courtney Love Blasts Daughter Frances Bean Again

17 Dec 2009 09:16:00 EST

'I'd prefer she not become Jamie L Spears,' Love writes on Facebook.
By Gil Kaufman

Just hours after saying that her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, is "not always honest" and "clearly deluded," Courtney Love continued her tirade against the 17-year-old on Facebook Wednesday by publicly expressing the hope that her only child with late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain not "become Jaimie [sic] L Spears." The misspelled reference is to Britney Spears' little sister, who became a mother at 17 in 2008.

"There's not a whole lot I can do about it," Love wrote, referring to her loss of legal guardianship of her daughter. (Love's typo-laden language and punctuation have been corrected for clarity.) "This is like a hand grenade got thrown into our lives and it's not Frances! I am angry at these people, not Frances. I'd just prefer she not become Jaimie [sic] L Spears. She should go be a writer or an artist, which I support 100%, but this is a circus and it pains me cos I know she hates it."

Love's lawyer has said that Frances Bean's decision to live with her paternal grandmother, Wendy O'Connor, had nothing to do with her mother's past issues with substance abuse, but was simply the teen's preference. A judge reportedly issued a restraining order on Wednesday that bars Love from having any contact with Frances Bean, though no reason was given for the action. When some fans suggested that Love's personal family issues were better handled outside of the spotlight and not publicly, Love wrote, "and I very much miss my daughter being a private person, and I very much miss my daughter. I know she knows how miserable I am. I'm despairing and so sad, so, so sad, but I just want to help her be happy, that's it. Get her [a] house and get her school and that's all I've ever wanted."

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Courtney Love Blasts Frances Bean On Facebook After Losing Custody

16 Dec 2009 13:17:00 EST

Singer writes that daughter is 'clearly deluded,' but quickly deletes post.
By James Montgomery

Not long after Courtney Love lost legal guardianship of her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, and on the same day her own lawyer was quoted as saying that Frances preferred to live with her grandmother Courtney Love took to her Facebook page to vent her frustrations with the legal system, her former mother-in-law and, somewhat shockingly, her daughter.

In a lengthy diatribe written on Tuesday, Love reportedly called Frances Bean "not always honest" and "clearly deluded," then ripped her decision to live with her grandmother, Wendy O'Connor.

"[Frances] thinks she has all this money, [but] the point is I have all the money she has ... I don't care really, I hate to sound cold, but any kid of mine who pulls this sh-- has lost her position," Love reportedly wrote. "The good news is now that Frances is clearly deluded that she [thinks she] can buy her grandmother a 'small house in L.A.' I'd love to see how that works. They'll incubate her until she's 18 and then have her sign all the indemnifications."

Love has since deleted the rant from her Facebook page, though several of her fans have reposted it. And before it disappeared, the post made its way onto PerezHilton.com, where the celebrity blogger picked it up and added a snide bit of commentary ("Oh, THIS is positive parenting ... we DEFINITELY think Frances made a wise choice by going to live with her grandmother").

Hilton also posted a second diatribe along with the Facebook rant, in which Love is quoted as calling Frances "a wonderful kid" with "bad people around her," then warns her that by living with O'Connor, she's entering "a juvenile family circus ... this is what — along with his mother — killed your father."

But according to Love, the two pieces of text were unrelated — she claimed the second post was taken from "a personal letter" — and that, by posting them together, Hilton had "defamed [her] and [her] child."

"You just lied ... I f---ing hate you, you fat-ass piece of bull sh--," Love wrote in another Facebook post on Tuesday night. "Part of that was from a personal letter and part of that you made up, and that's illegal."

In a statement to MTV News, Hilton responded to Love's comments, saying, "Like Lindsay Lohan, I only wish Courtney Love the best. She's delusional and crazy, but I love her and don't want her to end up like Anna Nicole Smith."

At press time, Love's management had not responded to MTV News' request for comment on the matter.

But it hasn't all been nasty on Love's Facebook page. In another post written early Wednesday morning (December 16), she struck a conciliatory tone, and thanked all her fans and friends for their support during this difficult time.

"I've never had so many texts in my life. I want to thank all my friends ... I'm so glad I have you, and to Frannie's worried friends, she's not stupid, she trusted the wrong people and got snookered into a circus," Love wrote. "She'll figure out what a ridiculous mess she's in and she's smart, she'll have to work really hard and she's not used to it. But I have faith. She's my daughter and I love her. Cruelty is not what she's about."

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Frances Bean Cobain Has Steered Clear Of Her Parents' Spotlight

15 Dec 2009 14:01:00 EST

Daughter of Courtney Love and late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain has tried to avoid the fame she was born into.
By James Montgomery

Frances Bean Cobain, born August 18, 1992, was the first — and, as it would turn out, only — child of Courtney Love and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. From the minute she came into the world, she was famous.

Photographers clamored to snap her picture. Journalists lined up to crown her as the heir to the throne, the princess of rock and roll. Even her godparents — R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and actress Drew Barrymore — were famous. And, yet, very little is actually known about Frances Bean. She's given only a handful of interviews. She interned at Rolling Stone magazine. And, by all accounts, she's tried very hard to live a normal life. At least as normal a life as the daughter of rock royalty can have.

In her first-ever interview — a 2005 conversation with Teen Vogue — Frances told the magazine she didn't want to be known as the daughter of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain, but "thought of as Frances Cobain." She described her personal style ("I don't like to look sloppy. I'm a girly-girl") and said she was making attempts to distance herself from her mother's rocker attitude.

"I prefer when she's [a] more classy starlet," Cobain said. "I don't really like her hard-metal stuff or when she doesn't brush her hair."

But she was also quick to come to her mother's defense. In a January 2006 interview with i-D magazine, she railed against the tabloid portrayals of Love, saying, "When you see a lot of lies about her in the tabloids ... it can be hurtful." In August of that year, she was photographed for Elle wearing one of her father's famous cardigans, tattered blue Converse All-Stars and the pajama pants he was married in.

To date, Frances' most revealing interview was a March 2008 feature in Harper's Bazaar, in which she said that she didn't understand the media's fascination with her.

"These people are fascinated by me, but I haven't done anything," she told the magazine. "I'm famous by default. I came out of the womb, and people wanted to know who I was because of my parents. If you're a big Nirvana fan, a big Hole fan, then I understand why you would want to get to know me, but I'm not my parents. People need to wait until I've done something valid with my life."

In the same interview, she declared her love for musical theater and "Sex and the City," called herself "a shoe junkie" and talked about the possibilities of an internship with Rolling Stone in the summer. She also credited her grandmother, Wendy O'Connor, with helping her remain rooted.

"We've moved so much, and my life has been so inconsistent," Frances said."[She's] the most constant thing I've ever had. I'm really lucky, because I've been able to go places and meet people you can only dream of, but she's probably the person I respect most out of anybody in the world."

O'Connor would also play a central role in the drama that surrounds Frances' life. In 2003, following Love's overdose — and subsequent arrest — O'Connor was awarded custody of her granddaughter, and both sides would engage in a lengthy court battle over who would retain guardianship. At the time, Frances lived in her mother's house — though Love was ordered to move out — under the supervision of a nanny and Love's stepfather, Frank Rodriguez, and aunt. During the trial, Love and O'Connor would come to blows outside a Los Angeles courthouse, but ultimately, in 2005, the court ruled in favor of Love.

On Friday, a filing gave temporary guardianship back to O'Connor, and on Tuesday (December 15), news broke that the decision was made because Frances prefers to live with her grandmother and that Love's past history of substance abuse had nothing to do with the court's filing.

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