If you believe everything you read, well then you're probably aware that [artist id="1165312"]Courtney Love[/artist] 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!