Life and career
Childhood and youth
Frances Bean Cobain was born in Los Angeles, California on August 18, 1992 to rock musician Kurt Cobain and musician/actress Courtney Love. She was named after Frances McKee, the guitarist for the Scottish indie pop duo The Vaselines. The middle name 'Bean' was chosen because Kurt thought she looked like a kidney bean on the ultrasound. Her godfather is former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, and Drew Barrymore is her godmother. Her father died when she was 1 year and 8 months old. She was raised by her mother, her aunts, and her paternal grandmother.
Cobain attended Happy Medium School in Seattle in 1994, now called Giddens School. During her kindergarten year, she attended Highland Hall in Northridge, California. While her mother was filming The People Vs. Larry Flynt in Memphis, TN, Frances attended The Maria Montessori School for a short time. She also attended The Willows Community School, located in Culver City, for elementary school and middle school.
Parents
On 1 April 1994, Cobain visited her father at the Exodus Recovery Center, a rehab center in Marina Del Rey, California, where they played together. This would be the last time Cobain saw her father alive. In the early morning hours of 8 April 1994, Kurt Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle. A final ceremony was arranged for Kurt Cobain by his mother on 31 May 1999, attended by both Courtney Love and Tracy Marander. As a Buddhist monk chanted, Frances scattered her father's ashes into McLane Creek in Olympia, Washington, the city where he "had found his true artistic muse".
According to Rolling Stone magazine, the title and cover photograph for Sliver: The Best of the Box, were chosen by Frances. Her mother has stated that Cobain is set to inherit "a sweater, a guitar and the lyrics to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'" from her father's possessions. On 18 August 2010, Cobain inherited 37% of her late father's estate.
Legal issues
Before Love gave birth to her daughter, there were rumors suggesting that she used heroin during her pregnancy. This scandal intensified when Vanity Fair published Lynn Hirschberg's article "Strange Love" that alleged Love admitted to using heroin even after learning of her pregnancy. Along with Cobain, Love maintained that Vanity Fair took her words out of context. After the birth of Frances Bean Cobain, tabloid reporters questioned if she had been born addicted to drugs. Eventually, child welfare services launched an investigation questioning their parenting abilities. The investigation was eventually dismissed, but not without a significant amount of legal wrangling and being removed from her parents' custody for a short time, beginning when she was two weeks old.
During Love's hospital stint in 2003, Cobain was put into the care of her grandmother. Cobain was returned to the custody of Love several months later. In late 2005, Hank Harrison, Love's father, prepared a brief petitioning a Los Angeles court for visitation rights to the minor child, but the petition was denied.
On 11 December 2009, a California Superior Court in Los Angeles appointed Wendy O'Connor, her paternal grandmother, and Kimberly Cobain, her father's sister, as temporary co-guardians of Frances. On 16 December 2009, it was reported that a judge had issued a related temporary restraining order, prohibiting Love from having any direct or indirect contact with her daughter. The papers were filed under the heading "motion to seal all documents … relating to a minor and allegations of domestic violence." Among those documents are Frances's medical records, according to the filing.
Media
To date, Cobain has given five official interviews. In September 2005, a thirteen-year-old Cobain gave her first interview to Teen Vogue where she discussed her personal style and mentioned her parents.[15] Another appeared in the January 2006 issue of i-D, where she expressed negativity over tabloid portrayals of her mother and was quoted as saying, "When you see a lot of lies about her in the tabloids, it can be hurtful."
In August 2006, she was photographed for Elle magazine in her father's famous brown cardigan and pajama pants as part of an article featuring children of rock stars in their parent's clothing. She explained, "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!" In February 2008, she appeared in a photo spread for Harper's Bazaar. In July 2010, she spoke with Interview magazine about her art, following her debut exhibition in Los Angeles.
RIP Childhood Birthday Party
In September 2008, Cobain hosted a suicide-themed party at the House of Blues in Los Angeles to celebrate a "RIP Childhood" 16th birthday. The event was funded by Love, and included a performance from Mindless Self Indulgence. The party was intended to represent the move from childhood to adulthood but created controversy as to Love's influence.
Journalism
Cobain worked as an intern for Rolling Stone magazine from June to August 2008.
Music
Cobain appeared as a guest vocalist on the song "My Space" from the album Evelyn Evelyn by Evelyn Evelyn, which was released 30 March 2010. Amanda Palmer from Evelyn Evelyn clarified that Cobain was one of some 20 artists who sang the same line and whose voices were mixed together in the recording.
Art
In July 2010, Cobain debuted a collection of artwork titled "Scumfuck" under the pseudonym "Fiddle Tim" at the La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles.
Fashion
Cobain modeled for Hedi Slimane for the hedislimane.com website for a photo series released August 2nd, 2011. She also modeled for fashion photographer, Rocky Schenck in a series of 10 photos in which she looked like a 50's movie star.
All about Courtney Love:
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