Frances Bean Cobain, Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain in 1993PAUL HARRIS
The late Kurt Cobain spoke disparagingly of his wife Courtney Love in a note that he carried in his wallet.
According to new reports, the note was recently released by police in Seattle. Detectives reportedly found the note while investigating Cobain's suicide death in 1994 but held off on releasing it until now.
And on the surface, the undated note suggests that Cobain and Love had fallen out at the time of its writing, but it's unclear whether he ever presented it to her or not.
The note reads: "Do you Kurt Cobain take Courtney Michelle Love to be your lawful shredded wife, even when she's a bitch with zits and siphoning all yr money for doping and whoring."
Scribbled on stationery taken from a San Francisco hotel, the cryptic missive runs contrary to sentiments expressed by Cobain in his now-infamous suicide note, in which he refers to Love as "a goddess of a wife who sweats ambition and empathy."
Cobain took his own life with a shotgun blast to the head on April 8, 1994. A subsequent autopsy revealed a high concentration of heroin and trace amounts of diazepam in his system.
At the time of his death – and in the two decades since then – there has been rampant speculation among fans regarding the tempestuous and drug-addled relationship between Cobain and Love, the former lead singer for the punk band called Hole.
The new note was released this week by Seattle police to a local CBS affiliate in response to a freedom of information request. It is unknown how long Cobain carried the note in his wallet.
In their coverage of the note's release, the CBS station exercised caution to inform viewers that Cobain may have written the message in jest, or possibly with his wife's co-operation.
From the CBS website: "One might even imagine two lovers penning the note together, fully aware of the scrutiny their relationship engendered."
A recent Seattle police review into Cobain's death supported the original conclusion that his death was by suicide.