Courtney Love issued a blunt warning in 2005 — and nearly everyone laughed it off. During a red-carpet interview, the rocker was asked what advice she’d give young women heading to Hollywood. Her answer was quick and unsettling: If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private event at the Four Seasons, don’t go.
At the time, the remark was brushed aside as another wild Courtney Love moment. But when the Weinstein scandal exploded in 2017, that clip rocketed across social media as people realized she had sounded the alarm more than a decade earlier, long before anyone took the accusations seriously.
For Love, that moment wasn’t unusual. Throughout her career, she’s battled a reputation that often overshadowed her talent. Even 25 years after Hole released its breakthrough album Live Through This, the singer says she has long felt torn between the musician she wants to be and the tabloid character the public thinks she is.
Born in 1965 to a complex and chaotic family, Love grew up bouncing between communes, schools, and even countries. Trouble hit early — a shoplifting arrest at 14, foster care soon after, and a move toward whatever work paid the bills. That included stripping across several states and overseas, money she later used to launch Hole.
Her marriage to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain only intensified the spotlight. They wed in 1992, and their relationship became an instant fixation for the media, especially as both battled drug use. When Vanity Fair published claims suggesting Love used heroin while pregnant — allegations she denied — the couple briefly faced losing custody of their newborn daughter, Frances Bean.
Then came 1994. Cobain died by suicide just a week before Live Through This hit shelves. Despite critical acclaim, Love spent years fighting off the false narrative that Cobain secretly wrote her songs — a claim she has repeatedly called both sexist and insulting.
After his death, Love found success in Hollywood, earning rave reviews and even a Golden Globe nomination for The People vs. Larry Flynt. But her rising career was nearly derailed by a series of highly publicized arrests, erratic TV appearances and a well-documented struggle with addiction. She later said those years were fueled by prescription drugs, cocaine, and the wrong people in her inner circle.
According to Love, she’s been sober since 2007. In recent years she’s returned to acting, launched creative projects, and — in a rare sign of nostalgia — hinted that Hole may reunite to honor Live Through This.
As she put it in a recent interview, acknowledging the past might be necessary: If you don’t tell your story, someone else will—and they’ll get it wrong.