Frances Bean Cobain is the only child of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and his widow Courtney Love, who was the lead singer of Hole.
She was named Frances after Frances McKee from the band The Vaselines, and Bean because Kurt thought she looked like a kidney bean on the ultrasound. Her godparents are REM frontman Michael Stipe and Drew Barrymore.
Frances Bean's birth hit the headlines due to the revelation that Courtney Love was taking heroin during the pregnancy. This is something the singer and actress denied and claimed had been taken "out of context" during an interview. When Frances was born, she was removed from her parent's custody and was only returned after legal proceedings. Frances fell out with Courtney during her teen years, even taking out a restraining order when she was 17.
The mother and daughter reunited in 2015 and appear to now be close. So what is life now like for 30-year-old Frances Bean Cobain?
8 Frances Bean Cobain's Romantic Relationships
Frances Bean Cobain married Isiah Silva, the lead singer of the rock band The Eeries in June 2014. She was just 17, yet she described the relationship at the time as "stable and normal." They filed for divorce in March 2016.
In 2013, Frances inherited 37% of her late father's estate and reportedly has a net worth of over $11.2 million. Silva demanded $25,000 a month of spousal support, claiming he'd quit his job when marrying Frances and even demanded one of Kurt's guitars as a "wedding gift."
Frances let Silva to keep the 1959 Martin D 18E (the guitar which appeared on the iconic Unplugged album) on the condition that Silva's new girlfriend left the former couple's LA house, which now belongs to Cobain under the property settlement.
Frances Bean appeared to confirm her romance with Riley Hawk, son of skateboard Tony Hawk, earlier this year.
7 Is Frances Bean Cobain Sober?
In February 2018, Frances Bean Cobain marked 2 years of sobriety on Instagram.
“I want to have the capacity to recognize & observe that my journey might be informative, even helpful to other people who are going through something similar or different,” she wrote in the caption. “It is an everyday battle to be in attendance for all the painful, bazaar, uncomfortable, tragic, f*cked up things that have ever happened or will ever happen.”
6 What Does Frances Bean Cobain Do For Work?
Frances Bean Contain attended Bard College in New York, where she studied art. She’s opened several art exhibits and shows off her art collections on her Instagram account @thespacewitch.
In 2010, she exhibited her artwork for the first time in Los Angeles (California, USA) using the pseudonym, Fiddle Tim.
5 Frances Bean Cobain Has Modeled For Luxury Brands
After graduating, Frances Bean Cobain pursued careers in both modeling and art.
Her first modeling job was with Elle UK Magazine. The photoshoot reportedly shows her wearing her father’s famous brown cardigan and pajama pants. At 19, she posed for noted fashion designer and photographer, Hedi Slimane.
At 25, she accompanied family friend and design Marc Jacobs to the Met Gala after becoming the face of his 2017 spring campaign.
4 Did Frances Bean Cobain Follow In Her Parents Footsteps As A Musician?
Frances has been described as a promising artist who has inherited musical talents from her parents.
In 2019, Frances Bean Cobain released an original song, “Angel” to commemorate her late, famous father. In an interview with RuPaul, Frances describes her music-making attempts as sounding like a fistfight between PJ Harvey and Fiona Apple with sporadic sobs from Dolly Parton and Jeff Buckley up in heaven.
“I’m working really hard to make—to come to fruition—what I envision for myself as an artist, and music is totally included in that. But I don’t want to limit myself to just music. It’s visual, and it’s musical, and it’s audio, and it’s soulful. I’m working towards making all of that my daily life,” she told Yahoo in 2021.
3 Frances Bean Controls Her Father's Image
Frances Cobain controls the publicity rights to the Kurt Cobain's name and image. This has meant Frances has been involved in several projects commemorating Kurt's career, including art shows and an HBO documentary called Montage of Heck.
"For 20 years, my dad has been like Santa Claus, this mythical figure," Frances said in an interview with Rolling Stone. "I want to present the man," she added.
She was only a baby when her father died, so she uses the documentaries and legacies to connect to her late father. Sadly, these projects don't always have the intended end result.
She told NME that "the movie ended up not being what I wanted it to be." adding "I regret not being in a headspace to be more involved. I was on a lot of drugs. I was not present. I was not capable of having authentic input."
2 Is Frances Bean Cobain A Nirvana Fan?
Frances Bean Cobain has admitted she isn't the biggest fan of her father's band
“I don’t really like Nirvana that much [grins]. Sorry, promotional people, Universal. I’m more into Mercury Rev, Oasis, Brian Jonestown Massacre [laughs]. The grunge scene is not what I’m interested in."
"‘Dumb'," she declared to Rolling Stone when asked about her favorite Nirvana song " I cry every time I hear that song. It’s a stripped-down version of Kurt’s perception of himself – of himself on drugs, off drugs, feeling inadequate to be titled the voice of a generation.”
When asked if it was awkward that she isn't a big fan of Kurt Cobain's music, she answered, “No. I would have felt more awkward if I’d been a fan. I was around 15 when I realized he was inescapable. Even if I was in a car and had the radio on, there’s my dad. He’s larger than life and our culture is obsessed with dead musicians.”
1 Frances Bean Cobain Has Turned 30 And Is Loving Life!
On August 18, 2022, Frances Bean Cobain turned 30 and marked the occasion on social media.
“I made it! Honestly, 20-year-old Frances wasn’t sure that was going to happen,” her Instagram caption stated. “At the time, an intrinsic sense of deep self-loathing dictated by insecurity, destructive coping mechanisms & more trauma than my body or brain knew how to handle, informed how I saw myself and the world; through a lens of resentment for being brought into a life that seemingly attracted so much chaos and the kind of pain tied to grief that felt inescapable.
The model and artist added, “Entering this new decade I hope to stay soft no matter how hardening the world can feel at times, bask in the present moment with reverence, shower the people I am lucky enough to love with more appreciation than words could ever do justice & hold space to keep learning, so the growth never stops.”
