The Lesser-Known Truth Of Courtney Love
Courtney Love has worn many hats over the course of the three decades or so that she's been in the public eye. She first came to fame when fronting the band Hole, releasing such albums as "Pretty On the Inside," "Live Through This," and "Celebrity Skin." She also found notoriety as the wife of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, but their brief marriage ended with his tragic self-inflicted death. Love has acted and raised her daughter with Cobain, Frances Bean Cobain.
However, the one full-time job she's held throughout the years has been provocateur; her knack for outrageous comments and occasionally on-the-edge behavior has generated more than her fair share of headlines. She's had her ups and downs, all under the harsh glare of the media spotlight, and she's survived it all. "I've had some successes and I've had some failures," she told interviewer and fellow songstress Lana Del Rey in a Q&A for Interview, "and failure is really hard to overcome."
Often misunderstood but never a shrinking violet, the outspoken star has rarely been at a loss for words, particularly now that she's reached the age when she has one eye cast on her legacy. "History is [a] set of facts that gets incredibly distorted, and the right side of history needs proper stewardship," she told Gwyneth Paltrow in that same Q&A. "It's really hard to do that." With that history in mind, read on to learn even more about the untold truth of Courtney Love.
She grew up in a hippie commune and spent time in reform school
Courtney Love's childhood was about as unconventional as it gets. As shared in Poppy Z. Brite's biography, "Courtney Love: The Real Story," Love grew up in a hippie commune in San Francisco's Haight-Asbury neighborhood. "There were hairy, wangly-ass hippies running around naked [doing] Gestalt therapy," she colorfully recalled in a 1995 interview with Spin, via USC Annenberg Media. Her parents divorced when she was 5 years old, her mother winning full custody due to court testimony that Love's father — a road manager for the Grateful Dead — gave their daughter LSD when she was only 4.
While attending middle school, Love befriended some fellow female students who were also teenage sex workers. "They were so glamorous, I just wanted to hang out with them," Love told The Times. Her friends weren't the greatest influences, and Love was sent to reform school when she was caught shoplifting. "I ended up going through the juvenile system with them because I got arrested shoplifting a KISS t-shirt," she said, noting she was just 13 at the time. "I didn't mind being in institutions," she mused. "I liked being around criminals — they were nice people and there was a sense of structure."
At age 16, Love became an emancipated minor. "Courtney's basically raised herself since she was about 12," artist Joe Mama, a close friend of Love's, told Entertainment Weekly. "She's truly a product of the world."
She made a disturbing allegation about Ted Nugent
Growing up with a dearth of parental supervision, young Courtney Love often found herself in situations she really shouldn't have been in. Such was the case when, as Love alleged during a 2004 phone call to "The Howard Stern Show," she performed oral sex on rock star Ted Nugent backstage at one of his concerts. According to Love, she was 12 at the time.
Nugent responded with a full denial of all of Love's allegations. "I've never met Courtney Love," Nugent stated in a "Nightly Nuge" video. In his remarks, Nugent speculated colorfully on why Love would have made that accusation. "Well, we all know why she would lie like that, because she's been so stoned and so brain dead for so long," he said, adding, "I have proof that I didn't have any relationship with Courtney Love because I have both of my arms and I've never had rabies." Nugent continued by insisting that not only had he never encountered Love, but that he'd never engaged in any untoward activities with any girls under the age of 18. "I've never had a relationship with an underage girl except when I was underage," he said.
That last statement, however, is contradicted by Nugent himself, in his downright cringe-inducing 1981 single "Jailbait," an ode to underage girls. That's evident in such lyrics as, "Well, I don't care if you're just 13 / You look too good to be true."
She studied theology in Dublin and worked as an exotic dancer in Japan
Courtney Love was just 15 when she was presented with an offer to work as an exotic dancer in Japan. Love jumped at the opportunity. "They were paying me $600-800 a week for pretty much doing nothing," she told The Times. "I did not have to have sex or take all my clothes off." However, when her employers wouldn't hand over her passport, she got herself deported in order to exit the country.
A few years later, in 1981, Love wound up in Dublin with the intention of getting a college education. "I tried to do a degree in Trinity College, I studied theology for a while, but I didn't finish that," she told The Irish Times. "Looking back now, it was a totally random thing to do."
When she subsequently landed in Los Angeles, she returned to her earlier gig as an exotic dancer. As she told L.A. Weekly, that was how she put together the money to fund her band, Hole. "I worked at Nude, Nude, Nude! Century Lounge near the airport. I worked at Seventh Veil," Love recalled. "To me back then, 300 bucks in a day was fine. I was able to do the kind of stripper economy which is ... for every $5 I made, I would give [Hole guitarist] Eric Erlandson three of them and that's how we bought our van and we bought our backline [sound system]."
She was the original singer in Faith No More
Courtney Love began pursuing her rock star dreams early. She was just 18 when she hooked up with a group of San Francisco musicians who'd formed a band they called Faith No More. "We were swapping around singers for Faith No More and she weaseled her way in for a while," the band's former keyboardist, Roddy Bottum, told Windy City Times. "We became close and have been ever since."
Love offered her own recollection of how she came to be the lead singer of Faith No More. "In the summer when I was 18, I saw Faith No More play with Gunclub and they had a crap singer," Love said in a television interview. "And I had a wedding gown on and I looked f***ing cool and I knew it. And I demanded to be in their band."
Bottum offered more details in an interview with Louder Sound. "Courtney was one of the revolving singers we had. She sang with us for probably six months. She was an awesome performer; she liked to sing in her nightgown, adorned with flowers." However, there's also a very compelling reason why Love didn't stick around as the band's singer longer than she did. According to bassist Bill Gould, Love was every bit the handful she'd been earlier in her teen years. "She was a very chaotic personality — she took a lot of work," Gould admitted. "It just got too much after a while."
She had a prestigious but short-lived acting career
in addition to her musical aspirations, Courtney Love also has a parallel career as an actor. That began back in 1986 with her bit part in the punk-rock romance "Sid & Nancy." She also appeared in the music video for The Ramones' 1988 single "I Wanna Be Sedated."
She returned to acting in a big way in 1996 when she was cast in a starring role, opposite Woody Harrelson, in director Miloš Forman's "The People vs. Larry Flynt," which resulted in a Golden Globe nomination. Her performance also earned high praise from late film critic Roger Ebert, who wrote, "Love proves she is not a rock star pretending to act, but a true actress." In 1999, she returned to the silver screen as Lynne Margulies, the girlfriend of Andy Kaufman (played by Jim Carrey) in the Forman-directed biopic "Man on the Moon." Since then, Love has continued to take on acting roles, in both film and television, albeit sporadically; her most recent screen credit is the 2021 film "The Long Home."
Given her promise, why didn't she do more acting? "For a few years ... I was a professional actress and a movie star. It was fun as hell," she wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post (via Deadline). "I stopped being capable of it after a bunch of #metoos. No one would believe me, and it wouldn't stop. So I left, and it left. And I'm good with it."
She blamed a Vanity Fair profile for Kurt Cobain's death
In September 1992, Vanity Fair published Lynn Hirschberg's profile on Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. The piece was scandalous, claiming that not only had Love introduced Cobain to hard drugs, but that she was shooting up heroin while pregnant. The couple issued a statement in response. "The Vanity Fair article ... contains many inaccuracies and distortions, and generally gives a false picture of both of us, including our attitude about ... drugs," read their statement, reported by the Los Angeles Times. The statement also specifically addressed Love's alleged heroin use during her pregnancy. "We unequivocally deny this," the statement declared.
In April 1994, Cobain tragically took his own life. Nearly two decades later, Love fired back at Hirschberg, characterizing the profile as a "hit piece" that pushed Cobain to suicide. "She humiliated and emasculated him. She sent him over the edge. She deserves most of the blame for his death. Do you really want to challenge me on that fact?" Love said in a 2011 interview with TheFix.com, as reported by Yahoo! Entertainment. Love later conceded that she had used heroin during her pregnancy, but she insisted it was only during the first few weeks, before she knew she was pregnant, and stopped using immediately.
Despite all the years that had passed since Cobain's passing, Love's fury at Hirschberg had not dissipated. "She's a monster ... she's more responsible for my husband's death than anyone," she added.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
She paid big bucks to settle a lawsuit over some tweets
Courtney Love has never been anything other than outspoken, and on more than one occasion that's landed her in hot water. Sometimes Love's outspoken nature has even cost her significant sums of money, which was the case when she took to Twitter back in 2011 to complain about fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir publicly demanding that Love pay her a few thousand dollars — a sum that Simorangkir claimed she was owed for clothing provided to Love. Love was furious; in a series of since-deleted tweets, reported Rolling Stone, Love lashed out at the designer, deriding Simorangkir as a "drug-pushing prostitute," while also alleging that she'd lost custody of her child and that she'd assaulted people. Simorangkir sued, claiming that Love's social media missives constituted defamation and had injured her career. Rather than go to trial, Love settled the suit by paying the designer a reported $430,000.
Love then appeared on Howard Stern's radio show, and continued to trash-talk Simorangkir — who sued a second time. Love ended that suit by paying Simorangkir an additional $350,00 — all together the Twitter posts cost Love a whopping $780,000 in total.
Interestingly, that wasn't the first time she'd been sued for defamation over one of her tweets. In 2009, she tweeted that her former attorney, Rhonda Holmes, had been "bought off," resulting in Holmes suing. While Holmes claimed that Love's tweet had damaged her reputation, a jury found otherwise, denying Holmes' claim and determining that Love was not liable for the tweet.
Her ex-son-in-law claimed she was planning to have him murdered
In September 2015, Courtney Love's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, married her longtime boyfriend Isaiah Silva — reportedly without Love's knowledge. The marriage didn't last long; the two separated in February of 2018 and their divorce was finalized that September. After the divorce, Silva retained possession of the guitar that his ex-wife's dad, Kurt Cobain, famously played on "MTV Unplugged." Silva claimed his ex had given him the guitar — reportedly worth millions — as a present, which she denied.
In May 2018, before the divorce was finalized, Silva hit Love with a lawsuit containing some bizarre allegations. According to the suit, in June 2016, a crew comprised of Sam Lutfi (Love's manager), Ross Butler (an actor known for "13 Reasons Why" and "Riverdale"), John Nazarian (a private detective), and Michael Schenk (a musician) broke into Silva's home and beat him up while attempting to kidnap and murder him. Silva claimed the ultimate goal of the alleged home invasion was to retrieve Cobain's guitar, and that Love was the mastermind behind the plot.
During the ensuing legal battle, Love requested Silva undergo a psychiatric evaluation. After the case had dragged on for a few years, both parties settled in 2022, with the terms of that settlement undisclosed. Love has maintained her innocence. "I never conspired with anyone else to murder or kidnap Silva or take possession of the guitar," Love said in a sworn declaration, as reported by Fox 11 Los Angeles.
She briefly changed her name
While numerous music stars used monikers that weren't their birth names as they climbed to fame, there have been rare cases of rock stars changing their names after becoming famous. John Mellencamp, for example, was originally known as Johnny Cougar before reverting to his actual name, while Prince notoriously changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol. Even Kelly Clarkson legally changed her name, to Kelly Brianne (but publicly remains known by her original name).
Add Courtney Love to that list — maybe. In 2010, she revealed she was officially changing her name to Courtney Michelle, a nod to her birth name, Courtney Michelle Harrison. "Courtney Love is dead. We've all decided we don't like her anymore," she told NME, as reported by The Guardian. "The name Courtney Love, it feels like I've outgrown it. We love her when she does onstage, but I don't need her in the rest of my life." Love also offered an explanation of why she'd decided to ditch the name by which she'd been publicly known for well over a decade. "'Courtney Love' is a way to oppress me," she said.
Immediately after Love's interview began making headlines, though, Love's rep walked back those statements. "The NME took it out of context," Love's rep said in an email to MTV News, despite the fact that Love's remarks had also been captured on video. "She's not changing her name, unless it's to 'Courtney Love Mellencamp' or 'Big Baby Jesus,'" the rep joked.
She believes she's Marlon Brando's granddaughter
Back in 2003, a report emerged that Courtney Love's estranged mother, Linda Carroll, wrote an unreleased book in which she speculated that her father — whom she'd never known — was legendary actor Marlon Brando. As The Washington Post reported, Carroll's assumption was based on the knowledge that her mother, author Paula Fox, and Brando were both residing with famed acting teacher Stella Adler and had a brief dalliance at the time that Carroll was conceived. The report further claimed that Carroll had taken DNA tests to confirm the veracity of her claims. "I have heard Mr. Brando has more than 30 children, so I can't imagine how many cousins I have," said Love at the time.
Carroll later disputed that her book made that claim. "First of all, it's crazy, it's not true," she told the local Oregon newspaper the Gazette-Times, as reported by Deseret News. "Second of all, my book doesn't say that."
Love, however, wasn't so sure. When her estranged grandmother died in 2017 at 93, she'd neither confirmed nor denied Brando was Love's grandfather. "She [Fox] went to her grave still not telling me and my brothers and sisters who is grandpa ... I'm sticking with Brando. It's very probable," Love wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post, reported Page Six. In her post, she revealed she'd once requested that Warren Beatty ask Brando to confirm her suspicion. "I'll save the results of that interaction for my memoir," Love teased.
Her contentious, roller-coaster relationship with Dave Grohl
Nirvana understandably dissolved after the death of Kurt Cobain. Yet while the band itself was no more, the multimillion-dollar business entity behind it remained, with Courtney Love inheriting her late husband's stake. That led to some contentious interactions with Cobain's former bandmates, particularly drummer Dave Grohl, who went on to found another band, Foo Fighters.
That acrimony was on display when she appeared on "The Howard Stern Show" in 1999 and alleged that Cobain hated Grohl because he abandoned him when he fell deeply into drug abuse. A few years later, in a 2007 post on MySpace (via NME), she declared, "Kurt loathed HIM more than anyone else," also claiming that Cobain had an addendum in his will asserting Grohl was no longer a member of the band. The bad blood spilled over into the courtroom in 2001 when Love sued the surviving members of Nirvana and attempted to dissolve the partnership, claiming that Cobain was the sole creative force behind the band, while Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic were essentially sidemen.
Love's feud with Grohl lasted years, but it eventually ended amicably when they hugged it out during Nirvana's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. "We've had a rocky road," Grohl told The Hollywood Reporter. "We've had a bumpy past, but at the end of the day we're a big family and when we hugged each other it was a real hug."
She was arrested hours after flashing David Letterman
There's no denying that Courtney Love is an outrageous talk show guest. That was never more apparent than her 2004 appearance on "The Late Show," when she notoriously climbed atop host David Letterman's desk and flashed her breasts. Love was apparently in rare form; hours later, while performing at a NYC club, she was arrested for allegedly hurling a microphone stand at a male concertgoer. The club's publicist, reported Today, claimed that the mic stand had inadvertently wound up in the audience, and Love had no intention of hitting the man. "She went back to her dressing room, completely unaware that there was an incident and she was about to be arrested," publicist Claire O'Connor said.
Love returned to Letterman's show in 2010, and admitted she couldn't really remember what had taken place prior to her arrest. She joked that the flashing incident had been the start of her lost "Letterman years," implying that was a dark period for her. "You're not blaming this on me, are you?" Letterman quipped. When he asked if there was a moment when she'd hit bottom, she fired back, "Your desk."
She also revealed that it was an earlier flashing incident on Letterman's show that inspired her to try the same stunt. "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," Love said. "But I was actually 39."
She accused Brad Pitt of having her fired from Fight Club
Courtney Love's movie career might have lasted longer than it did had she appeared in "Fight Club," the 1999 hit starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. In a 2022 appearance on Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast, Love claimed she'd been fired from the film at Pitt's behest — alleging it was in retaliation for her kiboshing a movie about Kurt Cobain that Pitt and director Gus Van Sant wanted to make. "I wouldn't let Brad play Kurt," Love said, as reported by Variety. "I went nuclear." She alleged she learned she'd been fired from a sobbing Norton — with whom she was romantically involved at the time — who told her he had no power over the decision.
However, a source claimed that her account wasn't entirely accurate, telling Variety that while she did audition for the film, by no means had she been hired. "You cannot be fired for a job you didn't get," the source said.
Love responded to that claim with a statement of her own, which she relayed in a since-deleted Instagram post. "I lost my s*** on them, and by 7 p.m. I was fired from 'Fight Club,'" she wrote, as reported by People. "Every word of this is factual," she added. "This was always a secret that I was fine keeping." The reason she decided to go public about her accusation? "I don't like the way [Pitt] does business or wields his power," she wrote.
She documented her outfits in a daily fashion blog
Back in 2010, Courtney Love launched her own fashion blog. Boasting the self-explanatory title "What Courtney Wore Today," Love regaled readers with photos, illustrations, and prose dedicated to the outfit she'd donned that particular day. While the blog has since gone bye-bye, at the time, HuffPost shared some excerpts, including her opinion of Manolo Blahnik shoes. "Manonlo's are for teensy little things who like to toddle around, i did a walk of shame in lace Manolo's, it was raining in the street and i felt like they were soaked panties on my feet [sic] ... " she wrote.
While the blog was active, The Guardian's Simon Mills did a deep dive into its contents and came up with some juicy tidbits, including her recollection of arriving to meet Woody Harrelson and some others for lunch, and finding her "Larry Flynt" co-star reading "Mein Kampf."
Love explained the purpose of the blog in a 2010 interview with Women's Wear Daily. "It's a social experiment," she said, noting that the blog was put together with the assistance of some of the women who work for her. "The rules of this are, I send pictures of what I wore that day, and they also have access to my files on my computer. A blog is full time, and my only condition is that I have to send them at least one picture a day," she explained.