Frances Bean Cobain

Frances Bean Cobain (born August 18, 1992) is the only daughter of the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hole frontwoman Courtney Love-Cobain. Frances Cobain was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California at 7:48 AM, weighing 7 lb 1 oz (3.2 kg)^[1].

Early life

Frances Cobain's life has been marked with controversy. Her parents both used heroin heavily, and rumors suggest that 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 Kurt Cobain and Love's relationship 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 parents' custody for a short time, placed into the care of Love's sister. The line "our favorite inside source" from the song "Rape Me" is a reference to the accusations made in this article^[2].

According to Kurt 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 Love was able to 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 Cobain allegedly overdosed on 50 Rohypnol pills 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 after Love discovered a note balled in his fist^[3]. It should be noted that Cobain denied this event was a suicide attempt. After being released from the hospital, he headed home and entered drug rehab shortly thereafter. Love followed days later.

April 1, 1994 was the last time Frances saw her father alive while visiting him at Exodus Recovery Center, the L.A. rehab clinic he had entered the previous day^[4]. 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.

Kurt Cobain was found dead in his home on the morning of April 8, 1994. Frances was 19 months at this time. The following fall, Love enrolled Frances at Happy Medium School in Seattle, now called Giddens School.

Love has said that while Frances was growing up she would often call for "daddy" in the middle of the night. Love 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 Love 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 him 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 the August 2006 issue of ELLE Magazine in her father's famous red cardigan and pajama pants: "I wore his pajamas 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 pajamas!" She said that she sometimes wears his clothes, as an alternative to her "137 pairs of shoes and 200 pairs of jeans." In addition, she also has many designer bags.

Courtney has said that Frances "knows better than to Google herself online," but has read celebrity gossip blogs about herself more than once. On one particular incident on Mother's Day 2006, Love and Frances went horseback riding in Malibu, and it was photographed by paparazzi. After returning home, Frances went online and saw the pictures on one of the gossip blogs, followed by negative comments about her weight. Love said that when she came home, she found Frances upset, having thrown out all of the food in their refrigerator.

Frances recently had a minor accident when she was sitting on a balcony with her pet dog and the dog tried to jump up onto her lap, causing her to fracture toes and bruise a bone. She claimed on her official website [1] that she is now fine.

Trivia

She attends school with Demi Moore's daughter.
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[2]. 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^[3].
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 on Broadway or direct a movie because she would rather be behind the camera than in front, and called herself bossy. She said she owns over 200 pairs of jeans, 137 pairs of shoes and at least 50 designer handbags. She claims her look is a "Modern Bohemian type thing".
Nick Broomfield has claimed that his controversial documentary Kurt & Courtney deliberately avoided mentioning her.
Maynard James Keenan, frontman of Tool and A Perfect Circle, was once called a media whore by Frances' mother after the wide spread media coverage of shirts bearing the phrase "Free Frances Bean."

Note

^ Michael Azerrad. 'Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1993. ISBN 0-385-47199-8, p. 270
^ Charles R. Cross, Heavier Than Heaven. Hyperion, 2001: ISBN 0-7868-6505-9 p. 246
^ Charles R. Cross, Heavier Than Heaven. Hyperion, 2001: p. 257
^ Charles R. Cross, Heavier Than Heaven. Hyperion, 2001: p. 323
^ Charles R. Cross, Heavier Than Heaven. Hyperion, 2001: p. 341

External links

Frances-bean.com [4] Frances Bean Fansite

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