These are photos of Courtney Love hugging her estranged daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, at Sundance. They both attended the premiere of the Kurt Cobain documentary, Montage of Heck. Frances is now 22 years old. Does that make you feel ancient? She seems to have a solid head on her shoulders despite her mom.
Frances and Courtney have a storied history that culminated in Frances cutting off contact several years ago. Frances has seen a lot of crap in her short life. One particularly sad story came out during the emancipation court procedure. Frances said her cat died after getting lost in Courtney’s hoarding piles, and her dog followed a similar fate after finding mom’s pill supply. In this documentary, Courtney reportedly reveals that much of what you heard about her is true. She admits to using heroin during her pregnancy with Frances: “I used it once, then stopped. I knew she would be fine.”
Courtney seems surprisingly lowkey about putting Frances at risk, which is sad. Luckily for everyone, Frances was fine. All of this confirms what Courtney previously admitted to Vanity Fair in 1992 (via LA Times archival). In that feature, called “Strange Love,” Courtney bragged to a journo about how she “did heroin for a couple of months” during her pregnancy. Courtney was probably high during the interview, and she grew angry after publication. Courtney and Kurt released a statement claiming that VF published “many inaccuracies and distortions” about them, including the drugs stuff. But it was all true, and now Courtney thinks it’s okay. No wonder Frances took a vacation from “mom.”
Courtney’s pursing her acting skills lately. She shot an upcoming guest apperance on Empire. People raves about how Courtney looks great. She does look healthier, but she’s still a delusional liar.
Photos courtesy of Getty & WENN
I don’t see a long-lasting reunion for these two. Frances seems to be much better off without her mother anyway.
wow I’m shocked ~said no one
Exactly. This isn’t even remotely surprising.
Exactly, and I don’t believe she only used one time as she maintains. If you used once, you most likely used more than once.
I hate to age myself, but I remember when there was this big to do at the MTV awards between Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses.
It seems Axl had been going around telling anyone who would listen that Courtney Love was using heroin during her pregnancy and that resulted in a shouting match backstage between the two camps. It ended up escalating onstage when Nirvana got up to accept an award and Grohl started shouting into the mic in an obnoxious taunting voice, “Hey Axl, hey Axl.”
Well, guess who ended up being right all along? Go Axl.
She has had some good work done, but all it makes her is a nicely wrapped piece of shit.
I had never heard the part about Frances’ animals. That is no way for anyone to live.
Ugh. If my mother had anything to do with the death of my animals, inadvertent or not, I’d be hard pressed to let that go.
You’d have to contend with your father’s very public suicide, not having any siblings to share the pain with, and how you were treated as well. I think it’s hard to put all of that in any kind of ascending order, animal neglect notwithstanding.
Don’t forget about the part where she cares so little for her daughter’s welfare that she does heroin while pregnant with her.
Courtney is such a self-centered mess. I’ve always felt so bad for Bean.
On another note, Frances has had so much work done that she actually resembles Courtney, post-surgery, whereas before all the work she really resembled Courtney pre-surgery.
Hollywood is so f*cking weird, man.
@Kitten
Lol (regarding Frances’ surgery)…I just watched “The People Vs. Larry Flynt”, and Courtney looked exactly like Frances in the movie–they look like twins…
EDIT: Just looked at the pictures you posted. OMFG. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone get an entirely new face via surgery….WOW. What did she do? She doesn’t even look plastic to me….
@Kiddo, I was just projecting my own feelings and didn’t mean to infer Frances should have been expected to handle things differently in any way.
I think I remember reading years ago that Francis was being bullied for her appearance and was taking it hard so maybe that’s why she’s had plastic surgery. She seems a bit more level headed than her mom, but who really knows. My ex has a friend who briefly dated CL years ago, and the few stories I heard confirmed her craziness. I still wonder if she’s stayed close with Drew Barrymore.
I’ll always love Hole. I love Courteney as long as I never have to meet her!
@Bengal Cat: Drew Barrymore cut CL loose a long time ago.
“I’ll always love Hole. I love Courtney as long as I never have to meet her!”
This is the only way to deal with her.
Are we really sure Frances had surgery? My son’s face changed so dramatically — his nose, cheeks, jawline, even his eyes look different to me with his “mature” bone structure — once he hit his teens, I don’t think people would think he’s the same person as the kid in his earlier photos just a couple years ago. I’ve noticed such dramatic changes among a couple of his classmates, too. While my other son as a teen looks almost identical to how he looked as a baby, just slightly more angular.
@ Chelsea, thanks. I remember reading that Drew Barrymore and Michael Stipe were FB’s godparents, (I hate that I know all this) but I suppose they have moved on.
@esmom, you may be right about FB not having surgery. I have a hard time telling unless it’s obvious like the Kardasians. I think she’s very pretty and I admire her for not seeking fame….so far. Hopefully she’s smarter
than that!
@Esmom Her nose, lips, and chin are completely different and not what I would think is part of the naturally aging process as a teen matures into an adult.
http://www.plasticsurgeryhits.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Frances-Bean-Cobain-Plastic-Surgery.jpg
mimif, Oh I know. I just meant that SO MANY things would be cause for intentional separation and distress.
Yes, Frances has had work done. A lot of work. I remember seeing a pic of her and thought they had labeled it incorrectly. She looked drastically different. She’s very pretty and I wish her well. It’s still sad to me that someone so young would put themselves through all of that (IMO) unnecessary surgery. It is quite funny actually, as Kitten noted, how much her new face looks like Courtney’s new face. Oh, and her boyfriend is a dead ringer for Kurt. The resemblance is crazy!
I really do not know what to say. Am I surprised? Definitely not – not about the drug use whilst pregnant – but I am amazed that her daughter has anything to do with this woman at all.
+1
In the photos she does look like she’s politely tolerating the contact but not exactly enjoying it. Ugh.
Yeah, that’s what I thought too. Politely tolerating.
Whoa, the body language in every one of those shots: *Stay the F away from me, you hag.*
And Courtney is oblivious.
Just like always.
Frances is gorgeous. I’m so sad for her that she lost her dad and her mum. She has a frenemy named Courtney instead. It’s so hard when you know your mum is toxic but you love them anyway because they’re your mum. Shame Frances has always had to be the mature one in that relationship.
I thought that was a well-established fact. The story I recalled reading way back when was that Courtney found out she was pregnant a couple of months along and freaked out because she had been using heroin. Her doctor told her that heroin doesn’t have ill effects on a fetus, so she kept the pregnancy- I think she was considering abortion. Not that I believe it has NO ill effects, but I guess compared to alcohol or crack it’s not so bad.
Came here to say exactly this. Also vaguely remember that she switched to methadone because she couldn’t come completely clean, and at the time she was really stressed about it – it was a big deal, they were super worried about birth defects.
I remember that… I think she talks about it in her biography… The Doctor was like “no worries” and Kurt Cobain was like “R U kidding me, we’re not supid”.
Anyway, the fact she took heroin during her pregnancy is a well known fact and she admitted it herself…
I worked at a rehab for pregnant women (yes I know it’s awful) and RARELY did we ever see somebody who just did one drug while knocked up. Maybe you might see a person who just drinks. But usually its booze, some pills, and whatever else they can get their hands on, even when their belly is huge and they know the baby is being harmed. Frances is hugely lucky to have no effects. Like miracle level lucky.
Yup this sounds like what she’s said all along.
Not to be a doomsday peddler, but we don’t really know if she’s fine. Addiction is inherited, especially when two parents were addicts. Frances looks like unwashed hell in these photos, and she’s been cutting up her face like her mother for years. She may be fine, and that would be awesome, but it’s just not very likely.
Sadly my mind went to the same place. She may seem fine, especially compared to Courtney, but we truly don’t know.
I agree , her face does look a little “hard” but that could also be from all the years she had to grow up and deal with this insufferable hot mess of a woman. Hopefully she doesn’t follow in Courtney’s footsteps.
I think so too. Both parents addicts and a terrible relationship with her mother. Not great odds, but I hope she beats them!
I agree. If someone I loved showed up to a family function looking as “fine” as Frances, we’d be staging an intervention right about now.
Yeah…I very much doubt that she’s “fine”.
Is she wearing designer crime tape in that photo?
I completely agree. I think Frances might be “fine” when you compare her to Courtney, but her extensive plastic surgery and scary skinniness (look at those legs) don’t really say “healthy” to me. Also, the fact that she’s been to engaged to a guy who looks like a Kurt wannabe since she was 18 is another concern. Frances is supposedly worth 100s of millions of dollars.
There was a BI (I forget from where; one of the big ones) years ago about a mother who’d forced her teen daughter to get a gastric bypass operation as she was slightly overweight (by Hollywood standards), and Court was the popular guess for that one.
And there are plenty of rumours that FBC is pretty heavy into party drugs. She’s at an age where that kind of thing tends to become a big problem (if it isn’t already). But with a limitless budget, plenty of personal grief, a family history of both addiction & mental illness & boatloads of enablers. . . it’s hard to predict a good outcome for her. Poor little Bean.
Her makeup is awful here but Frances is really a beautiful girl.
She’s had a lot of work done, google before and after.
Oh Christ, she really has had quite a bit done. But it looks fantastic, good for her for not going overboard. You’d never know if nobody told you.
WHOA@! I had no idea. Her original face looks a lot like Courtney’s original face. My god it’s like she had her face totally reshaped. I didn’t even know that was an option. And it’s not just losing weight because there are pics of her very thin with the wider face. Wow.
You have to wonder if she hates her mom so much that she wanted to get rid of her mom’s face, but at the same time, she still looks a lot like Courtney no matter what. Anyway, Frances must have a poor self image to have had so much plastic surgery at such a young age.
After reading this article, I am going to give my mother a call and tell her I love her. I can’t imagine having a mother like Courtney
Don’t start screaming at me for saying this – but the BOTH looked completely wasted in the these pictures. Frances looks higher then her mother.
No she doesn’t.
Idk about high, but in some of the other pictures I saw her arms and legs looked awful. Like way too thin.
She’s lost a LOT of weight and her face looks 100% different with all the plastic surgery she’s had over the years.
It’s hard to believe that this is the same girl in these photos:
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/frances-bean-cobain/images/32791966/title/frances-bean-cobain-before-surgery-photo
http://www.tmz.com/photos/2015/01/26/francis-bean-and-courtney-love-together-photos/images/2015/01/26/0126-francis-bean-courtney-love08-jpg/
KITTEN thanks for posting. Frances is the anti-Courtney now. Who can blame her?
Christ Almighty, that is some transformation.
Whoa, thanks for posting those links. I had no idea what she looked like at all, and it’s like two totally different people. Whole new face.
She used to look more like Kurt, now she looks just like Courtney.
@kitten
Thanks for the link to the before and after.
I am shocked. Didn’t know plastic surgery this extensive was even possible. And no, I don’t think she is fine. Heavier Than Heaven was one of the most disturbing books I have ever read, because I found Kurt C. to be so twisted. I know many love him, but I guess I have never been one of them. No offense intended to any of his fans, but his biography gave me nightmares.
Yeah he was twisted according to that book for sure. Wasn’t there some kind if drama over the validity though?
Sounds like what she said in 1994(3?). But yes she is nutzo and I do believe the conspiracy that she orchestrated kurt’s murder. Becuase shes that much of a psycho.
Frances usually seems to keep her distance, which unfortunately is probably for the best. I can’t imagine dealing with someone like her mother on a daily basis.
What a great gift of memory for the daughter, mom to tell her that she was doing Heroine while she was pregnant? Poor girl.
Mom doesn’t have to tell daughter. This episode was HUGE media scandal back in the day; Demi moore’s pregnant belly on a magazine cover scandalous. Courtney and Kurt threatened to sue VF magazine, social services were involved…..
All Frances has to do is google herself. The media clustercrap started when she was feotus!!!
Courtney is brilliant, but yeah, a total fantasist.
If Courtney stopped early in the pregnancy, then less issues on developing baby, but if not, there’s other factors to consider (e.g. diet, genetics, gestational age, fetal birth weight) that contribute to toxic substance impact in utero.
If she was using throughout the higher the risk to the newborn being addicted. In most states, today at least, it is a mandate to report a drug exposed newborn. Child Protective Services are required by law to investigate on basis of prenatal neglect.
Most people are unaware that Methadone is often administered to heroin addicted newborns, depending on the severity of withdrawal symptoms. And in my experience (NICU social worker) heroin is much worse in newborns than those in crack/cocaine withdrawal. And these days, heroin is the most common drug in mother and infant tox screens.
Yes, Frances is beautiful but she looks really sick here… Pale, thin and tired. I hope everything is okay with her health.
Maybe I just have really low standards when it comes to Courtney, but I think she looks pretty ok here. Maybe I’m just accustomed to the cracked out, smoking, hair-flying-everywhere mess that I usually see.
Frances is cute, but I don’t get a straight and narrow vibe from her. And Moschino wants their caution tape back.
I must need caffeine.
If Courtney really does have her act together and they are rebuilding their relationship I think it’s great. It’s never too late to turn your life around.
I thought this was common knowledge. Kathleen Hana brought it up once at a concert and it led to Courtney attacking her backstage. I also can recall that she and Kurt did an interview for Rolling Stone during her pregnancy and the interviewer noted that Courtney chain-smoked through the interview while visibly pregnant. Seems to me like Frances got super-duper lucky.
And gosh, Frances looks almost exactly like her father. I can’t imagine that was been extremely easy for her.
I’ve seen that Kurt and Courtney documentary that was around on Netflix awhile back, and it’s about how she possibly murdered Kurt blah blah (which I don’t believe really) and her camp and influence were trying to prevent the documentary from being made because she was pursuing actor stardom. It’s so funny how in that movie she was portrayed as having a lot of promise to become a big star, and now it’s 2015, and here she is, Courtney Love, super train wreck.
That doc didn’t lie about her promise. She was unexpectedly hired for THE PEOPLE VS LARRY FLYNT with the condition that she stops the drugs before, during and after production. And she did. Her transformation during 94/95 truly amazing.
around that time, she also befriended Sharon Stone or was it the other round, who advised her on her make over and public behaviour. Shockingly, Courtney followed through to such an amazing extent that she was the star turn at the 1995 Oscars where she was sober, clean, glamorous and quite unlike her previous incarnation – side note: she was open about the surgery that she’d had to help with the make over. Many people really rooted for her and predicted good things for her as long as she stayed off the drugs
The film was digging up dirt during this time frame which was against the new public persona so of course she tried to shut it down, can you blame her?
Unfortunately, old habits die hard, and she relapsed, has never reached those halcyon heights again.
Seeing her at the Oscars that year, I mean my jaw literally dropped. I couldn’t believe she could clean up that well. During that time, she really pulled it together. Surely presented as lucid and sober for a while there.
Frances Bean is beautiful and super cool, but that outfit NEEDS TO GO.
As someone who also has very complicated relationships with my parents and step parents I have to say that it’s wonderful to see Frances come out of it as a strong person. I did too and have had to cut off contact with my father at times as well. We are speaking to each other today but I never know what could happen tomorrow. I remember that Vanity Fair article very well. It was pretty well known that both Courtney and Kurt were drug addicts so I’m not surprised at all that she did Heroin while pregnant. I was also not surprised when Kurt killed himself. It was shocking and sad but not surprising. Despite Courtney’s list of wrongs I have always rooted for her to come out of it and become successful as a Mom and whatever else she pursues whether it’s acting or music. I truly hope that she and Frances can repair their relationship.
Right? My mom was an addict, and we had a very challenging relationship before she died of an overdose a few years back.
I’m pulling for Frances.
Good god. What an unbearable person. Poor Frances-its seems like she has come out strong and smart. I wish her the best
Has Frances had work done? She’s only 22 and out of the spotlight, so i thought she wouldn’t have gotten “Hollywood crazy” but i google her and in some older pictures she looks completely different. I know that she was younger and she has lost weight, but lips don’t change with age and weight loss. If she had lip injections the result is actually nice, they are plump but not Kylie Jenner freakish. She’s really pretty.
It’s pretty obvious she’s had work done as she looks like a completely different person, not just a kid who went through the aging process. She went from literally tiny lips to very full lips. Also, she probably had a subtle nose job as well as something done to the shape of her face and chin.
Agreed… I can’t believe how different her chin looks… she went from having a pointy, Jay Leno-esque chin to a significantly smaller, rounder one… I don’t even understand how that is possible?! Can anyone explain?! Can a chin be shaved down that much or is it some other kind of procedure??
The thing that came to mind was how unfair life is. There are women out there who take care of themselves perfectly during pregnancy and then give birth to a child who is sick, either physically or mentally. And then you have cases like this one. Like other people have said, no one knows all the details, but stories like this one upset me a lot.
She is damn lucky her daughter turned out even this ok.
Not to defend Courtney, but a while back i saw a documentary about her. The woman grew up in a pretty effed up family herself. I think she is victim of her own family unfortunately she carried on the cycle with her own daughter.
I also think she must be quite likeable in person, she has many friends in high places, there was a Vanity Fair profile on her a few years ago and you’d be surprised at the big names that actively supported her and wanted her to do well. Milos forman spoke very well about her. Even people like Gwyneth Paltrow spoke well about her.
You’re using MILOS FORMAN as a reference????
I am sorry i don’t know much about him apart from the fact that he is a respected movie director who made some good movies. Forget him, there were other people who spoke well about her. I am not defending her, I am trying to point out that the cycle of abuse is often ongoing and many “abusive” parents are often victims themselves.. Its usually a bit more complicated than made out in gossip pages. You should see the documentary.
This is old news. Everyone and their dog knew Courtney did drugs while she was pregnant with Frances.
She was a spitting image of her dad. Not so much now.
They both look terrible quite frankly.
Hey courtney, tell us something we don’t know
Courtney has never denied doing heroin during her pregnancy. The details shift a little, but ive been a fan of hers since the 90s and she always said she did heroin during her 1st trimester, but made steps to quit after discovering she was knocked up.
It is common knowledge that CL did heroin during her pregnancy. I am more concerned/alarmed about Frances’ face. Why on earth would she go and change it? Shades of CL, I am afraid.
We know this already…? I thought Liz Rosenberg outed her in the early 90s.
I am not sure about the plastic surgery thing: if you take my pictures when I was 12,15,and 18 I was totally different.
BTW I am rooting for Frances, that’s all I’ve got.
Agreed. I feel very protective of her in a distant way. I wish everyone would stop speculating over her appearance etc. She didn’t choose this public life, she’s turned out a lovely girl and she’s had a lot to contend with. It’s a fucking lot to ask of someone to grow up like that and she hasn’t had parents to look to for support.
I think her appearance just looks questionable because she dyed her hair too dark and she has her mothers fair skin tone. I find it hard to believe anything else. The girl has her head on straight and has watched her mother destroy everything and everyone around her with her drug use. That on top of her father dying. Ive always felt a sense of protection over this child too, I think many people did. I mean jesus, it was a miracle she made it out of the womb alive.
Oh Court-Court
You are an awful woman, mother – person.
I know my Kurt/Courtney history. They were doing heroin constantly for the first few months of her pregnancy, before she knew she was pregnant. What she said originally in Vanity Fair – that she found out she was pregnant and continued doing heroin for “a couple of months” after that – is true based on a number of the more reputable biographies. She and Kurt did do rehab together – I believe it was about month 5 or 6 of her pregnancy. It didn’t take. She was going through another rehab in the final month of her pregnancy.
The biographies she authorized are almost complete bullshit. I think she did see a geneticist, but the claim that she did heroin “once” before she knew she was pregnant and then never again is absolutely laughable.
I read Courtney’s admission in a different tone. To me she sounds like someone who has long since come to terms with the truth privately, with her family, and can talk discuss it now publicly without histrionics. Really she doesn’t owe the public any more than what she’s already said, imo.
Ugh, I wish that girl hadnt dyed her hair black. She looked a lot better and healthier the way she was before. As for Courtney, I remember when she had Frances and there was a book out that went on about her shooting up in a closet. Something like Kurt found her and flipped out because she was pregnant. I also still think she had something to do with his death. Chick went off the deep end even more once he was gone.
Francis Bean had the good sense to go for emancipation before she was of age and at least removed Courtney from her life. She was also lucky enough to have Kurt’s side of the family to support her: she stayed with them extensively especially during Courtney’s trips to rehab etc..She keeps a very low profile