Courtney Love, the widow of the Nirvana’s frontman Kurt Cobain is an American singer, songwriter, and actress who rose into the 1990s American punk and grunge scene through her alternative rock band Hole.

The 55-year-old who has never shied away from the controversy was named “one of the most influential singers in alternative culture of last 30 years” by New Musical Express in 2020.

Courtney Love Lives a Well Endowed Life With a Net Worth of $150 Million

Coming from humble beginnings, Courtney Love found success amidst the chaos of controversies and denial regarding her approach to delivering music to the world. The singer stood the test of time and became one of the most iconic divas in show business. Love, as of 2020, has an estimated net worth of $150 million.

Contralto Voice That Trembled Masses

Love, whose voice is described as a low female pitch, didn’t fail to shake the earth to its core with the perfect blend of her voice and the music that went berserk at times.

She initially started with the music band called the Sugar Babylon in the 1980s but failed to make an impression with the other members of the band that led to her eviction from the band. Later, she formed a musical duo with Kat Bjelland calling themselves Pagan Babies. Pagan Babies only performed in the underground music scenes and was soon defunct after both of the members sought something else.

At the end of 1988, Love formed the alternative band called the Hole after recruiting Eric Erlandson as the lead guitarist, Lisa Roberts as the bassist and Caroline Rue as the drummer. The band released its studio album called Pretty on the Inside. The album garnered positive reviews from critics from both London and America, marking the rise of Courtney Love into the land of rock.

Love released three more albums with the band called Live through This (1994), Celebrity Skin (1998), and Nobody’s Daughter (2010). 

Love's band Hole
Courtney Love with her band Hole

Source: Rolling Stone

Love also released a solo album called America’s Sweetheart which divided the critics into two divisions, one that loved the album and the other that didn’t like her new materials as much as the previous ones. The album with 12 tracks only managed to sell 250,000 copies worldwide.

Year Record Earnings
1991 Pretty on the Inside $210,000
1994 Live Through This $1,270,000
1998 Celebrity Skin $1,340,000
2004 America’s Sweetheart $400,000

Brief Stint As An Actress

Courtney Love also tried her hand in acting finding success with her role as Althea Leasure, the wife of Larry Flint in the 1996 American biographical drama The People vs. Larry Flint. The movie starring Love, Woody Harrelson and Edward Norton received an 88% rating on the Tomatometer on the Rotten Tomatoes. Love earned praises from critics and audiences who enjoyed her performance in the movie and was nominated for a Golden Globe.

She appeared in about ten more movies including 200 Cigarettes (1999), Man on the Moon (1999), Beat (2000), Julie Johnson (2001) and Trapped (2002).

Relationship With Kurt Cobain

Courtney Love met Kurt Cobain on January 12, 1990, in a nightclub in Portland. The couple whose relationship is described as bizarre, bonded through their drug addiction and later developed the bond into a relationship.

Love and Cobain with Frances
Love and Cobain with their daughter Frances

Source: The Daily Beast

The couple got married on February 24, 1992, on Waikiki Beach, Hawaii. They had a daughter named Frances Bean Cobain on August 18, 1992.

Inherited $115 Million from Kurt Cobain

On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead at his Lake Washington Boulevard home, with a shotgun across his body and a letter to his childhood imaginary friend Boddah, by Gary Smith, an electrician who had arrived to put in a security system in the house. The coroner’s report later declared that Cobain had been dead for three days and the cause of death was a self-inflicted trauma to the head with a shot-gun.

Cobain’s will had Loved as his benefactor which meant that she inherited all his fortune as well as the publishing and writing rights of Cobain. The rights were evaluated at $115 million and $130 million respectively. She also inherited Cobain’s personal belongings that were worth $120 million.

In 2009, Love declared that she had lost most of the inheritance in a series of poor decisions and blamed her accountants for it. She claimed that the amount lost sums up to $500 million in real estate and $30 million in cash.

Real Estates

Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain briefly resided in the house they purchased in Seattle in 1994 right before Cobain ended his own life. The couple purchased the house for $1.49 million.

The residence was built in 1902 and contained four-bedroom built over a land of 8,000 square feet in front of a lake. The house was later sold in 1997 by Love for $2.9 million. The house’s value today is $7.5 million.

Love's Seattle House
Love’s Seattle House

Source: Architectural Digest

Love also owned a 6.78-acre plot that had a house and a guest house until 2018 in Olympia. The singer made the purchase of the property in 1995 for $447,000 and was abandoned later on.

The residence fell victim to vandalism as the entire property was violated with graffiti painting and even cases of arson were reported. Love, realizing the state of the property listed it for sale taking a loss for $319,000 on August 3, 2018, and was reported to be getting offers left and right.

Troubled Childhood And A Drug Infested Prime

Courtney Michelle Harrison was born on July 9, 1964, to Linda Carroll and Hank Harrison in San Francisco, California. She was the first child of psychotherapist Carroll and the road manager of Grateful Dead, Harrison.

During her parents’ custody battle for Love, her mother alleged that her father fed Courtney LSD when she was a toddler after which Love’s custody was handed over to her mother. Love was later adopted by her stepfather Frank Rodriguez. Rodriguez and her mother had two daughters and a son who died during infancy. Later, Rodriguez and Carroll also adopted a boy.

Courtney was diagnosed with autism when she was nine after she struggled in school and had trouble making friends. After her mother and her stepfather divorced, her mother moved to New Zealand. Love was then enrolled in Nelson College for Girls from which she was almost immediately expelled.

At the age of 14, Love was arrested for shoplifting and was sent to a correctional facility. Afterward, she was placed in foster care until she was emancipated at the age of 16. A 16-year-old Love who had no one to support her earned her bread by working as a topless dancer in clubs and during this time, she chose to change her surname to “Love” in order to conceal her identity.

Love also had many legal troubles later in her adulthood. She was an avid heroin user and was arrested for disrupting a flight by getting into an argument with the stewardess. She again got into trouble for assaulting singer Kathleen Hanna at the Lollapalooza Festival in 1995 for which she was sentenced to an anger management class.

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