Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain
Her parents divorced when Courtney barely turned five. Her father lost custody – he gave LSD to his five-year-old daughter. By sixteen years Courtney Harrison was rich, independent and… absolutely uncontrollable. She went to the round-the-world travel full of adventures, romance and inspiration… She changed her surname on Love, tried to create rock band. At first it was Sugar Baby Doll, then Faith No More and Pagan Babies, and only in the 1989 when Courtney was already twenty five, she started the band Hole.
She and Kurt met after a concert. Bright, beautiful, sexy… and somehow having lost sight of each other: neither Courtney knew anything about Nirvana, nor he never heard of her. She did not enjoy the concert –did not like neither songs nor Cobain himself, and probably fueled by a fine dose of alcohol and drugs with her usual directness she spit all this out in Kurt’s face. How anybody else would react, we don’t know, but he just pulled this hussy and kissed her in the lips without any words.
That's it. Just like that the legendary love story in the history of modern rock music began. About a year Curt refused his feelings – as he told later, he was afraid of losing his freedom and independence. But Love was insistent. They got married in 1992 in Hawaii. Though Courtney and Curt, certainly, loved each other – or perhaps just didn’t have time to stop loving, so fleeting this story was – either way, it was not easy for them both. Curt constantly suffered from heavy depressions. They both were on drugs. They decided to get married only when they found out about Love’s pregnancy. Kurt was unspeakably happy to this news. Hard to say, how he imagined himself an exemplary family, but he told his girlfriend not once that he wanted kids – and the more, the better. Their daughter, Frances was born in 1992.
The baby was taken away from famous, constantly deranged parents right after the birth. However, she was returned in the 1994. Obviously, the girl had enough trouble from Courtney: as soon as Frances turned seventeen, she achieved the court order forbidding mother to even approach her. Now she is already married and rarely talks to her mother. Courtney does not like to talk about it. She feels sorry for herself and worries that her daughter cannot forgive her and Curt for messed up childhood, ridiculous nicknames and all that unattractive, ugly, perverted, born by drug intoxication and withdrawal pains that Frances had to witness since childhood.
Cobain loved the kid as much as the person with clouded mind was able to love. In his letter to father he admitted that he became sentimental, cried when watching the children on TV dying from hunger, he was afraid to put his daughter in car — what if an accident, God forbid! Relationships with Courtney were like a volcano: they argued for nothing, crushed stuff and fought, destroying everything around. Cobain’s first attempts of suicide began about one year before death. Terrified Courtney called the officers not once, and they were taking his weapon away… But on 5 April, 1994 she could not step in. Or she just did not want to?
Kurt was lying in his house in Seattle four long days. He was found on the floor, with his head shot, a gun on his breast and the suicide note near him. Ten days before the incident Courtney called husband’s closest friends, demanding to influence him to go to rehab. At last, on March 30 Kurt gave up, and was placed in Exodus medical center in Los Angeles. Same day in the evening he ran away. After using a credit card to buy a ticket to Seattle he disappeared. Interesting detail: he flew with Duff McKagan, the frontman of Guns N'Roses, and was surprisingly kind and friendly, though he never loved their songs before.
Courtney, friends and relatives tried to get in contact with him many times. Curt slipped away even from private detectives. He was found by electrician. His corpse was already numb, shot in the head. And nearby – a note written with red ink. He wrote how he ran out of inspiration and there was only dissatisfaction left about everything that was going on…
Later the police uncovered another note found in Kurt's wallet: in it he called Courtney a perverted woman, pumping out his money. Did he mean it seriously or just for fun? It is hard to say… At husband’s funeral Courtney said that she had everything what she could dream of: dear lover, who wanted to be only with her, common (though three times harmful) interests, family, daughter, future plans … And all this was ended by one shot.
What was after Kurt's death? Drugs, drugs and series of short-term relationships. Nevertheless, she released an album Live Through This. Songs did not win the charts, of course, however shocked Nirvana fans bought up almost every CD of the idol’s widow. Years passed. Crazy lifestyle did not spoil Courtney Love’s appearance, and even on the contrary: the vulgar laxity was replaced by bohemian chic.
She lives in England, hangs out with aristocrats, gives concerts at uptight parties, constantly complains about her life, however does not deny herself neither the real estate, cars, nor expensive dresses. It is unknown how long this couple would last, if Kurt did not commit suicide in far 1994…
Paradoxically, their love became immortal thanks to death. Courtney Micchelle Harrison perfectly understands it, though she never admits it to anybody. Their love remained truly stellar: mind-blowingly passionate and strong in everyone’s eyes! And no need for fans to know the rest details.
Text: Nata Osmanly / Photo: Press materials
