Frances Bean Cobain
Frances Bean Cobain (born
August 18,
1992) is the only daughter of
Nirvana frontman
Kurt Cobain and
Hole frontwoman
Courtney Love-Cobain. Frances was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in
Los Angeles,
California at 7:48 AM, weighing 7 lb 1 oz (3.2 kg).
Frances' life has been marked with controversy. Her parents both used
heroin heavily, and rumors suggest that Courtney Love used the drug during her pregnancy. The scandal intensified when
Vanity Fair published
Lynn Hirschberg's article "Strange Love" that alleged Love admitted to taking heroin even after learning of her pregnancy. The response to this article caused serious damage to Love's public standing, and many parenting groups called for Frances to be removed from her parents' custody immediately after birth. Along with Cobain, Love maintained that
Vanity Fair took her words out of context.
While Cobain and Love's romance was something of a media attraction before the article was published, it received even more attention afterwards, and they soon found themselves constantly hounded by
tabloid reporters wanting to know if Frances was born addicted to drugs. The notoriety of the article even resulted in
child welfare services launching an investigation into the couple's ability to parent. The investigation was eventually dismissed, but not without a significant amount of legal wrangling and two-week-old Frances being removed from her parent's custody for a short time, placed into the care of Courtney's sister. The song "
Rape Me" is thought to include a reference to the accusations made in this article.
According to Cobain, holding his daughter was the greatest drug in the world. Despite this, his actual drug addiction prevailed and he again resorted to using heroin.
It was around this time in
1993 that Kurt Cobain and
Nirvana reached their peak of success, and Kurt spent a lot of time touring. Fortunately, Courtney's band Hole was in the recording stage of their upcoming album, so Courtney was able stay at home with Frances.
Also during this year, it is said that the relationship between the Cobains began to sour. In March
1994, Kurt overdosed on
Rohypnol in the Rome hotel room which he, Frances, and Courtney were sharing. Initially the incident was reported to be accidental, but it was later alleged to have been a suicide attempt, although Kurt denied this. No available evidence has ever proven that this was a suicide attempt. After being released from the hospital, Kurt headed home and entered
drug rehab shortly thereafter. Courtney followed days later.
April 1, 1994 was the last time Frances saw her father alive while visiting him at the L.A. recovery center he had entered the previous day. The two of them played, and Kurt sang to her. He checked himself out of the rehab center that night and returned home to
Seattle.
Love said, while Frances was growing up she would often call for "daddy" in the middle of the night. Courtney was able to hold
custody for much of Frances' childhood, until eventually being arrested after an
OxyContin overdose in October
2003. Not until January
2005 was Courtney able to regain custody.
Frances has stated she still feels a pain in her heart whenever her father is mentioned, and she avoids watching musical programs that relate to him. She also claims that she does not like to listen to Nirvana because it reminds her of her father and makes her very sad. However, in a
SPIN magazine interview, Courtney Love claimed Frances asked for a Nirvana album as a birthday present, so her attitude may have changed over time.
Frances Bean Cobain posed in ELLE Magazine in August of 2006 in her fathers famous red cardigan and his pajama pants that he got married in "I wore his pyjamas because he got married in them to my mom in 1992 in Hawaii so I thought they would be cute if I wore them today...He was too lazy to put on a tux so he got married in pyjamas!" She quotes. She said that she sometimes wears his clothes now and then and owns over 137 pairs of shoes and 200 pairs of jeans and many designer bags.
*According to
Rolling Stone magazine, the title and
cover photograph for
Sliver: The Best of the Box, the latest posthumous Nirvana release, were chosen by Frances[
1]. The cover photograph shows a pile of Nirvana and Cobain tapes strewn about, including a copy of the "Fecal Matter" demo.
*Frances is named after
Frances McKee of
the Vaselines, although it is mistakenly thought that
Frances Farmer is the real source of her name. Both Kurt and Courtney showed an apparent fascination with the Seattle actress, with Courtney even wearing a dress that once belonged to her when she married Kurt. The middle name Bean was chosen because Kurt thought she looked like a
bean on the
ultrasound.
*Actress and friend of Courtney Love,
Drew Barrymore, was chosen as Frances'
godmother. Frances'
godfather is
R.E.M. frontman
Michael Stipe, a close friend of both Kurt and Courtney.
*Frances' first public appearance was with her parents at the
1992 MTV Awards.
*Frances is often said to have the distinctive features of her father.
*Cobain's mother waited until Frances was eight years old to tell her the circumstances surrounding her father's death.
*Frances is reportedly a fan of
American Idol, Fox's music talent show. She attended the Season Four finale show with her mother.
*According to Courtney Love in a 2002
Entertainment Weekly article, Frances' singing voice has a
five-
octave range.
*To date, Frances has given three official interviews.
**Her first public interview appeared in a
Teen Vogue issue on
September 13,
2005, featuring her in a series of "girly outfits"; she mentions that she doesn't like to dress grungy and messy like her parents. The article focuses primarily on her shopping habits, but the article also touches on the topics of her mother and how it feels to be a member of "grunge royalty."
**A second interview appeared in the British publication
i-D magazine in January
2006. In it, she says her favorite TV shows are
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and
American Idol. She also discusses her interest in photography and unhappiness with tabloid "lies" written about her mother. In addition, Frances admits she would like
Mariah Carey to sing at her
sweet 16 birthday party.
** Frances, had a third interview in ELLE Magazine
August 4 2006 about her style of clothing. She also mentions that she would not want to get into music she would rather be in a broadway movie because she hates the camera.She say she owns over 200 pairs of jeans, 137 pairs of shoes and atleast 50 designer handbags. She claims her look is a "Modern Bohemian type thing".
August 4,
2006,
*
Nick Broomfield has claimed that his controversial documentary
Kurt & Courtney deliberately avoided mentioning her.
#
Michael Azerrad. 'Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana''. Doubleday, 1993. ISBN 0385471998, p. 270
