Frances Bean Cobain

Frances Bean Cobain (born August 18, 1992) is an American visual artist and model.

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.

Frances Bean Cobain was born on August 18, 1992, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

She was named after Frances McKee, the guitarist for the Scottish indie pop duo The Vaselines, not actress Frances Farmer, as has been commonly assumed.

Former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe and actress Drew Barrymore are her godparents.

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

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.

Love and Kurt Cobain maintained that Vanity Fair took her words out of context.

Eventually, child welfare services launched an investigation into their parenting abilities.

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.

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!"

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; one week later, he was found dead at his home in Seattle.

Cobain was subsequently raised by her mother, aunts, and paternal grandmother.

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.

Hours after the arrest, Love overdosed on painkillers.

Love regained custody of Cobain in 2005.

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

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.

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.

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.

In February 2008, she appeared in a photo spread for Harper's Bazaar dressed as Evita.

Cobain worked as an intern for Rolling Stone magazine from June to August 2008.

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, while in 2013 it was revealed she had turned down the part of Bella Swan in Twilight.

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.

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.

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.

Cobain was also an executive producer on the HBO movie about her father's life, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck.

Cobain modeled for Hedi Slimane for a web photo series released August 2, 2011.

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.

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.

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.

In 2019, she appeared as a special guest judge in one episode of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 4.