Frances Bean Cobain

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Image:Francescobain.jpgFrances Bean Cobain (born 18 August, 1992 in Los Angeles, California) is the only daughter of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hole frontwoman Courtney Love-Cobain.

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Early life

Frances' life has been marked with controversy. Her parents both abused heroin heavily, and rumors suggested that her mother had even abused during the pregnancy. More fuel was added to the scandal when Vanity Fair publised Lynn Hirschberg's article "Strange Love" that alleged Love admitted to the author that she had continued taking heroin even after learning of the pregnancy. The response to this article caused serious damage to her public standing and many parenting groups called for the child to be removed from their custody immediately after birth. Love, along with Cobain, maintained that Vanity Fair took her words out of context. While Cobain and Love's romance had been 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, many 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 fitness as parents. However, the investigation was eventually dismissed, but not without a significant amount of legal wrangling and a two-week-old Frances being removed from her parent's custody for a short time. The song Rape Me is thought to include a reference to the accusations made in this article.

Frances was born on August 18 at 7:47 AM, weighing 7 pounds and 1 ounce. However, the joy of her birth was rather short-lived when, at just 2 weeks old Frances was removed from her parents custody and placed into the care of Courtney's sister. Frances made her first public appearance with Kurt and Courtney at the '92 MTV Music Awards.

The Cobains did everything the courts told them to do to regain custody of their newborn infant daughter, and eventually succeeded. She and her father bonded quickly, with Kurt claiming that holding his daughter was the greatest drug in the world. Despite this, Cobain's drug addiction prevailed and he again began using heroin.

It was around this time (1993) that Kurt Cobain and Nirvana reached their peak of success, and Kurt spent a lot of time touring. Fortunately, Courtney's band was in the recording stage of their upcoming album and so she was able stay at home with her mother.

It was also during this year, that it is said that the relationship between the Cobains may have been beginning to sour.

In March of '94 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 himself denied this. No evidence has ever shown that this was actually a suicide attempt. After being released from the hospital, Kurt headed home and directly into rehab shortly after. Once again, Courtney followed days later.

April 1 1994 was the last time Frances saw her father alive, visiting him at the L.A. recovery centre he had entered the day before. The two of them played and Kurt sang to her. He checked himself out of the rehab centre that night and returned home to Seattle.

Cobain was found dead in his home a week later. Frances' father was 27 years old, and she was just 21 months.

Growing up, Frances would cry often for her father, being too young to understand the circumstances of his death, and was said by Love to sometimes call out for "daddy" in the middle of the night. After her father's tragic death, Courtney Love was able to hold custody for much of Frances' childhood, until eventually being arrested after an OxyContin overdose in October 2003. It wasn't until January of 2005 that Love was finally able to regain custody.

Now, Frances says she still feels a pain in her heart whenever her father is mentioned, and it is for this reason that she avoids watching musical programs that relate to him. She has also said that she doesn't like to listen to Nirvana because she is reminded of her father, and this makes her very sad. However, in a SPIN magazine interview with Courtney Love, her mother claimed she did ask for a Nirvana album for her birthday, so her attitude may have changed since then.

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Misc

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Frances was named after Frances McKee of the Vaselines, although it's 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. Her middle name is "Bean" because Kurt thought she looked like a kidney bean on the ultrasound Template:Ref. Actress and friend of Courtney Love, Drew Barrymore, was chosen as her godmother. Frances' Godfather is REM frontman Michael Stipe, a close friend of both Kurt and Courtney. She is often said to have the distinctive features of her father. Cobain's mother waited until she was around eight to tell her the circumstances surrounding her father's death.

She is reportedly a fan of American Idol, Fox's music talent show. She attended the season four finale show with her mother.

According to her mother, Courtney Love, in a 2002 Entertainment Weekly article, Frances's singing voice has a five-octave range.

To date, Frances has given two 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.

Nick Broomfield has claimed that his controversial documentary Kurt & Courtney deliberately avoided mentioning her.

According to Rolling Stone magazine [1], the title and cover photograph for Sliver: The Best of the Box, the latest posthumous Nirvana release, were chosen by Frances. The cover photograph shows a pile of Nirvana and Cobain tapes strewn about, including a copy of the Fecal Matter demo.

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