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Frances Bean Cobain

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Frances Bean Cobain
Born (1992-08-18) August 18, 1992 (age 32)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names
  • thespacewitch
  • Fiddle Tim
Occupations
  • Visual artist
  • model
Spouses
  • Isaiah Jones Silva
    ​
    ​
    (m. 2014; div. 2017)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 2023)​
Children1
Parents
Relatives
Tony Hawk (father-in-law)

Frances Bean Cobain (born August 18, 1992) is an American visual artist and model.[1] She is the only child of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hole frontwoman Courtney Love. She controls the publicity rights to her father's name and image.[2]

Early life

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Frances Bean Cobain was born on August 18, 1992, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.[3] She was named after Frances McKee, the guitarist for the Scottish indie pop duo The Vaselines,[4][5][6] not actress Frances Farmer, as has been commonly assumed.[7] Former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe and actress Drew Barrymore are her godparents.[8]

Cobain's sonogram photo – the origin of her middle name, as her father thought she looked like a kidney bean[9] – was featured on the sleeve of Nirvana's 1992 single "Lithium".[10]

Before Cobain's birth, rumors suggested that her mother used heroin during the pregnancy. This scandal intensified when Vanity Fair published Lynn Hirschberg's article "Strange Love", which alleged that Love admitted to using heroin even after learning of her pregnancy.[11] Love and Kurt Cobain maintained that Vanity Fair took her words out of context.[12] Eventually, child welfare services launched an investigation into their parenting abilities.[13] The investigation was ultimately dismissed, but not without a significant amount of legal wrangling and Cobain being removed from her parents' custody for a short time, beginning when she was just two weeks old.[13]

On April 1, 1994, when she was 20 months old, Cobain visited her father at the Exodus Recovery Center, a rehab center in Marina del Rey, California, where they played together. This was the last time she saw her father alive;[14] one week later, he was found dead at his home in Seattle.[15][16] Cobain was subsequently raised by her mother, aunts, and paternal grandmother.[17] She spent her early years in Seattle and Los Angeles, and was placed in her grandmother's care for a time after her mother's drug-related arrest in October 2003. Love regained custody of Cobain in 2005.[18]

During her young adulthood, Cobain attended Bard College, where she studied art.[19]

Career

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Modeling

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In August 2006, she was photographed for Elle UK magazine in her father's famous brown cardigan and pajama pants as part of an article featuring children of rock stars in their parents' 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!"[20][21] In February 2008, she appeared in a photo spread for Harper's Bazaar dressed as Evita.[22] Cobain modeled for Hedi Slimane for a web photo series released August 2, 2011. In 2016, she modeled alongside Alice Glass in a spread for Schön! magazine shot by Floria Sigismondi. In 2017, she was announced as the face of Marc Jacobs's Spring/Summer campaign for that year, shot by David Sims.[23][24][25]

Artwork

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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.[26][27][28] On August 4, 2012, she participated in the group show 'MiXTAPE' under her real name. Artists were asked to pick a song and create art inspired by that song. Cobain chose the song "Black" by The Jesus and Mary Chain. The eclectic mix of songs chosen was featured for digital download on iTunes.[29][30][31] Opening on June 7, 2017, through June 30, Cobain and artist Lindsey Way held a joint art exhibition titled "Ghosts For Sale" at Gallery 30 South in Pasadena.[32]

Other ventures

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According to Rolling Stone magazine, the title and cover photograph for the 2005 Nirvana rarities album Sliver: The Best of the Box were chosen by 13-year-old Cobain.[33] Cobain worked as an intern for Rolling Stone magazine from June to August 2008.[34] She was featured in the magazine years later, photographed by David LaChapelle. In 2009, it was reported that Cobain had turned down the role of Alice in Tim Burton's film Alice in Wonderland,[35] while in 2013 it was revealed she had turned down the part of Bella Swan in Twilight.[36]

Cobain appeared as a guest vocalist on the song "My Space" from the album Evelyn Evelyn by Evelyn Evelyn, which was released on March 30, 2010.[37] Amanda Palmer from Evelyn clarified that Cobain was one of some 20 artists who sang the same line and whose voices were mixed together in the recording.[38] Cobain was also an executive producer on the HBO movie about her father's life, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,[39] though she later denounced the film, calling the representation of her father "not what I wanted it to be". In 2019, she appeared as a special guest judge in one episode of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 4.

Personal life

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In September 2005, 13-year-old Cobain gave her first interview to Teen Vogue, in which she discussed her personal style and mentioned her parents.[40]

On December 11, 2009, a California Superior Court in Los Angeles appointed Wendy O'Connor, her paternal grandmother, and Kimberly Cobain, her father's sister, as Cobain's temporary co-guardians.[41] On December 16, 2009, a judge issued a related temporary restraining order prohibiting Love from having any direct or indirect contact with her daughter.[42] 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 Cobain's medical records, according to the filing.[43]

On August 18, 2010, Cobain inherited 37% of her late father's estate.[44] She controls the publicity rights to her father's name and image, instead of her mother. During Cobain's divorce proceedings from Isaiah Silva, it was revealed she earned, from July 2016 until June 2017, $95,496 per month from the royalties related to her father's estate in addition to $6,784 per month in dividends ($102,280 total per month, $1.2 million per year). Her net worth was estimated at $11.3 million.[45] Her father's estate was valued in 2014 as being worth $450 million.[46]

Cobain has said she is not a fan of grunge bands, instead preferring the music of artists such as Oasis, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Mercury Rev, but she has said she likes the Nirvana songs "Territorial Pissings" and "Dumb".[47]

Cobain, along with Wendy O'Connor and Kim Cobain (Kurt's mother and sister, respectively), attended the opening of "Growing Up Kurt Cobain" at the Museum of Style Icons in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland on July 17, 2018.[48] At the exhibition, Cobain said she often uses the phrase, 'peace, love, empathy', which her father used in his suicide note, because she wants to "reclaim the peace, love, empathy thing as something that's meant for health and for compassion and for true peace, love, and empathy."[49]

Marriages

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Cobain married The Eeries' lead singer Isaiah Silva on June 29, 2014,[50][51] though the wedding date was widely misreported as September 2015.[52][53] By March 23, 2016, she had filed for divorce,[50][51] which was finalized on November 30, 2017.[54]

In 2021, Cobain began dating skateboarder Riley Hawk, son of Tony Hawk.[55] They married in Los Angeles on October 7, 2023, with R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe (Cobain's godfather) officiating the ceremony.[56] The couple welcomed their first child together, a son, Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk, on September 17, 2024.[57]

References

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  1. ^ "Frances Bean Cobain". Biography. Archived from the original on January 9, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  2. ^ Matthews, Cameron (May 2, 2012). "Courtney Love Lost Rights to Kurt Cobain's Image, Frances Bean in Control – Spinner Canada". Spinner.ca. Archived from the original on May 6, 2012.
  3. ^ Cross, Charles R. Heavier Than Heaven, Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-6505-9 p. 246.
  4. ^ "Frances Bean Cobain, daughter of late rocker Kurt Cobain, celebrates 18th birthday". Archived from the original on May 7, 2011.
  5. ^ Tricia Friesen (April 2, 2007). "Grunge icon remembered". Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  6. ^ "The Vaselines Record Second Album After 20 Years". Archived from the original on June 22, 2013.
  7. ^ Brillson, Leila. "Frances Bean Cobain Models for Hedi Slimane". MTV. Archived from the original on January 8, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  8. ^ Kaufman, Gil (September 23, 2011). "Nirvana Heiress Frances Bean Cobain: About A Girl". MTV. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  9. ^ Egan, Barry (July 30, 2018). "Frances Bean Cobain: 'I feel like I have a deep spiritual understanding that most people probably don't'". Irish Independent. MediaHuis Ireland. Archived from the original on January 6, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  10. ^ Cross, Charles R. Heavier Than Heaven, Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-6505-9 p. 250.
  11. ^ Hirschberg, Lynn (September 1, 1992). "Strange Love: The Story of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on December 15, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  12. ^ "Courtney Love". Behind the Music. June 21, 2010. VH1 network.
  13. ^ a b Wawzenek, Bryan (August 18, 2017). "25 Years Ago: Frances Bean Cobain Born to Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love". Diffuser. Archived from the original on July 9, 2019. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  14. ^ Charles R. Cross, Heavier Than Heaven. Hyperion, 2001
  15. ^ "Mourning Kurt Cobain's death" Archived November 29, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Entertainment Weekly, April 29, 1994.
  16. ^ Brodeur, Nicole (January 5, 2006). "Sad reminder of Kurt Cobain's legacy". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on November 12, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  17. ^ Courtney Love has lost custody of her child three times."Frances Bean Cobain Has Steered Clear Of Her Parents' Spotlight", MTV, December 18, 2009. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  18. ^ "Courtney Love Regains Custody Of Frances Bean Cobain". MTV News. Archived from the original on June 26, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  19. ^ "Kurt Cobain's Daughter, Frances Bean Cobain: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". April 5, 2015. Archived from the original on May 17, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  20. ^ "Cobain's Pijama Surprise". San Francisco Gate. August 3, 2006. Archived from the original on February 12, 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
  21. ^ "Frances Bean Cobain". Elle Magazine UK. August 2006. Archived from the original on November 26, 2021. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  22. ^ Riedel, Jeff. "Frances Bean Cobain". Harpers Bazaar. Hearst Communications, Inc. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  23. ^ Nikki, Darlene (August 10, 2011). "New pictures of Frances Bean Cobain". Upvenue.com. Archived from the original on August 26, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  24. ^ Grunge Grrrl Frances Bean Cobain Grew Up Archived January 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Gothamist. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  25. ^ Hedi Slimane Diary. Archived June 5, 2018, at the Wayback Machine August 2, 2011.
  26. ^ La Luz de Jesus Gallery Archived May 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Los Angeles, California.
  27. ^ Kamens, Laurie (December 24, 2010). "Frances Bean Cobain Assumes Pseudonym, Debuts Artwork". Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  28. ^ Pattiz, Rebecca. "Frances Bean Cobain: No Apologies". Archived from the original on October 25, 2011.
  29. ^ Miller, Bridgette.Frances Bean Cobain & More Create Art That Rocks for MiXTAPE LA Archived September 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Bust August 2, 2012
  30. ^ LA MIXTAPE: AS A GESTURE OF LOVE Archived August 22, 2013, at the Wayback Machine L.A. Record August 3, 2012
  31. ^ Duran, Amy (August 20, 2012). "In L.A.: LA Mixtape @ LeBasse Projects China Town". juxtapoz magazine. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
  32. ^ "Lindsey Way & Frances Bean Cobain: Ghosts for Sale". Gallery 30 South. June 6, 2017. Archived from the original on June 12, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  33. ^ "Unreleased Nirvana Due". Rolling Stone. November 4, 2010. Archived from the original on July 19, 2006. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  34. ^ "Frances Cobain is a summer intern at Rolling Stone". Theinsider.com. Archived from the original on March 30, 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  35. ^ "Frances Bean Cobain 'Alice in Wonderland' Snub". Popcrunch.com. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  36. ^ Soghomonian, Talia (June 2013). "Courtney Love claims that Frances Bean Cobain was offered lead role in 'Twilight'". NME. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  37. ^ "Kurt Cobain's Daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, makes singing debut Archived December 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine" February 6, 2010.
  38. ^ Palmer, Amanda. "The Story Behind 'Evelyn Evelyn' Archived July 24, 2014, at the Wayback Machine", Amanda Palmer Blog. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
  39. ^ "Frances Bean Cobain on life after Kurt's death: An exclusive Q&A". CNN. April 9, 2015. Archived from the original on April 11, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  40. ^ "The New Cobain Style" Archived May 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Vogue. September 7, 2005.
  41. ^ "Cobain's mother gets guardianship of granddaughter" Archived November 29, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Associated Press, USA Today, December 14, 2009. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
  42. ^ "Court to Courtney: Stay Away From Frances" Archived November 24, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, TMZ.com. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
  43. ^ Fleeman, Mike (December 23, 2009). "Did Courtney Love's Daughter Face Domestic Violence?". People. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  44. ^ Uhl, Carey (May 13, 2012). "Documents Show Courtney Love Lost The Rights to Kurt Cobain's Image and Likeness to His Daughter Frances Bean Cobain". Mxdwn.com. Archived from the original on June 5, 2012. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
  45. ^ Trendell, Andrew. "Frances Bean Earns More Than 100K a Month from Kurt Cobain's Estate, Court Documents Show". People. Archived from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  46. ^ Molon, Adam (April 5, 2014). "Inside Kurt Cobain's $450M Empire". CNBC. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  47. ^ Fricke, David (April 8, 2015). "Frances Bean Cobain on Life After Kurt's Death: Exclusive". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  48. ^ Last, Jane (July 17, 2018). "Frances Bean Cobain And Family Open Exhibition Dedicated To Kurt Cobain at NewBridge Silverware". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  49. ^ Kelly, Aoife (July 18, 2018). "'Who Courtney knew was a very different person to who they intimately knew' – Frances Bean on Kurt Cobain exhibition curated by his mother and sister". Irish Independent. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  50. ^ a b Kile, Meredith B. (March 23, 2016). "Frances Bean Cobain Files for Divorce After Less than Two Years of Marriage". Entertainment Tonight. Archived from the original on March 23, 2016. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
  51. ^ a b Stark, George (March 23, 2016). "Frances Bean Cobain Files for Divorce from Husband Isaiah Silva After 21 Months of Marriage, Seeks to Protect $450 Million Fortune". People. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  52. ^ "Frances Bean Cobain Secretly Marries Boyfriend Isaiah Silva Without Telling Mom Courtney Love". E!. September 25, 2015. Archived from the original on September 30, 2015. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  53. ^ "Frances Bean Cobain secretly weds?". TV3.ie – Xposé Entertainment. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  54. ^ "Frances Bean Cobain Is Finally Divorced, Say Reports". Radio X. December 1, 2017. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  55. ^ "Tony Hawk's Son Is Dating Kurt Cobain's Daughter". slapmagazine.com. Archived from the original on November 24, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  56. ^ Hatcher, Kirsty (October 24, 2023). "Frances Bean Cobain Marries Riley Hawk – with R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe Officiating". People. Archived from the original on April 5, 2024. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  57. ^ @thespacewitch (September 28, 2024). "9.17.2024 Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk 🩵 ✨ Welcome to the world most beautiful son. We love you more than anything ✨" – via Instagram.
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