What is Frances Bean Cobain's Net Worth?
Frances Bean Cobain is an American artist, musician, and model who has a net worth of $200 million. Frances is the daughter of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Hole singer Courtney Love. She made headlines before her birth after accusations surfaced that Love used heroin during the pregnancy. Child welfare services launched an investigation after Love's seemingly incriminating interview with "Vanity Fair," and Cobain was taken from her parents two weeks after she was born. She was eventually returned to her parents.
Frances has worked as a model, appearing in the pages of "Elle" and "Harper's Bazaar," and she used a pseudonym to release a collection of her artwork in 2010. She appeared in Nirvana's 1993 "Sliver" music video as an infant, and she produced the 2015 documentary "Cobain: Montage of Heck," which earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. Frances reportedly turned down the starring role in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" to focus on her education at Bard College. In 2017, she became the face of the Spring/Summer campaign for Marc Jacobs.
Kurt Cobain Estate
Kurt Cobain died without a will. As a result, his estate was subject to intestate succession laws, which typically distribute assets to surviving family members. Therefore Courtney Love and Frances Bean Cobain, became the primary beneficiaries. Frances Bean was a little under two years old when her father died. Unfortunately, this arrangement soon led to a bitter and highly publicized legal battle.
The conflict escalated as Love and Cobain's family members, including his mother, fought over the control and distribution of his estate. The legal proceedings were marked by allegations of substance abuse, financial mismanagement, and even conspiracy theories surrounding Cobain's death.
In the end, a settlement was reached between Love and Cobain's family, granting Love primary control over his estate. However, Frances Bean Cobain, as a minor at the time, was represented by a guardian ad litem who fought to protect her interests. As she reached adulthood, she gained more control over her inheritance.
Frances inherited 37% of Kurt's estate on her 18th birthday in 2010. She inherited the full estate on her 30th birthday in 2022. Today, Frances Bean Cobain controls 100% of her father's publicity rights to his name and image. Those rights are presumably worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2014, Kurt Cobain's estate, including music royalties and the Nirvana catalog rights, was valued at $450 million.
A subject of controversy is the use of Cobain's likeness and music for commercials and other projects that some deem to be incompatible with the late musician's priorities and morals. For example, Love claimed that his memory was "raped" when one of Nirvana's songs was used in a Muppets movie. His likeness was also used in a beer commercial for Bavaria, which was seen as controversial in some circles. Courtney Love did approve of a posthumous collaboration with Converse sneakers, however.
2017 Divorce Insights
As part of her divorce proceedings, we learned quite a bit about Frances' financial status. According to documents submitted by her legal team, Cobain was worth $11.2 million at that time. That does not mean her total final net worth was $11.2 million. It meant the money she had inherited thus far from the Nirvana estate totaled $11.2 million today.
Legal documents in her divorce showed that she earns well over $100,000 per month from her late father's estate in the form of royalties, publishing rights, and investment dividends.
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Early Life
Frances Bean Cobain was born on August 18, 1992, in Los Angeles, California. Her first name was inspired by Vaselines guitarist Frances McKee, and her middle name came from the fact that her father thought she resembled a kidney bean on the ultrasound.
Love told "Vanity Fair" about a heroin binge she and Kurt had gone on in January 1992 (the month she got pregnant with Frances), stating, "We copped some dope. Then we got high and went to SNL. After that, I did heroin for a couple of months." The article resulted in the Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services launching an investigation against Kurt and Courtney and taking Frances from them two weeks after her birth. Frances was returned to Love and Cobain after the case against them was dropped.
Frances visited Kurt at Marina del Rey's Exodus Recovery Center on April 1, 1994, and it would end up being the last time she would ever see him; Cobain was found dead at his Seattle home one week later. After Kurt's death, Frances was raised by Love and other family members, and she lived in Seattle and Los Angeles as a child. In October 2003, Courtney was arrested on drug charges, and when she returned home, she overdosed on painkillers while 11-year-old Frances was present. Cobain went to live with her paternal grandmother, Wendy O'Connor, and Love regained custody in January 2005. Frances studied art at Bard College in New York.
Career
In 2006, Cobain modeled for "Elle" magazine in Kurt's brown cardigan and pajama pants. The article featured the children of famous musicians wearing clothing that belonged to their parents, and Frances explained why she chose that particular outfit, stating, "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!" In 2008, Cobain dressed in outfits inspired by "Evita," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Grease" for a "Harper's Bazaar" photo spread, and in 2011, she modeled for an internet photo series by Hedi Slimane. She modeled for "Schön!" magazine in 2016, and she was named the face of Marc Jacobs's 2017 Spring/Summer campaign.
In 2010, using the pseudonym "Fiddle Tim," Cobain debuted an artwork collection entitled "Scumfuck" at L.A.'s La Luz de Jesus Gallery. In 2012, she took part in the group art show "MiXTAPE," which involved artists creating art inspired by a song; Frances chose The Jesus and Mary Chain's "Black." In 2017, she held a joint exhibition with artist Lindsey Way, "Ghosts For Sale," at Pasadena's Gallery 30 South. During the summer of 2008, Cobain interned at "Rolling Stone" magazine, and a few years later, David LaChapelle photographed her for the publication. According to "Rolling Stone," Frances chose the cover photo and title of the 2005 Nirvana album "Sliver: The Best of the Box" when she was 13 years old. Cobain was a guest vocalist on the 2010 Evelyn Evelyn song "My Space," and she served as a guest judge on a 2019 episode of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars."
(FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP via Getty Images)
Personal Life
Frances' godparents are actress Drew Barrymore and R.E.M. front man Michael Stipe.
Cobain gave her first interview at age 13, to "Teen Vogue" in September 2005.
In late 2009, her paternal grandmother, Wendy O'Connor, and her aunt, Kimberly Cobain, were appointed temporary co-guardians of Frances, and a restraining order was issued prohibiting Love from having any contact with her. The papers that were filed reportedly involved "allegations of domestic violence."
In July 2018, Cobain attended the opening of the Museum of Style Icons' "Growing up Kurt Cobain" exhibition in Ireland with her paternal grandmother and aunt. While attending the exhibition, Frances stated that she often uses a phrase from Kurt's suicide note, "peace, love, empathy," because she wants to "reclaim the peace, love, empathy thing as something that's meant for health and for compassion."
Frances married musician Isaiah Silva on June 29, 2014, and they divorced in November 2017. During their divorce settlement proceedings Isaiah held out to retain ownership of one of Kurt's acoustic guitars. The guitar, a 1959 Martin D-18E, was used by Kurt during Nirvana's "MTV Unplugged" set.
On October 7, 2023 Frances married Riley Hawk, the son of skateboarder Tony Hawk. They began dating in January 2021. The marriage was officiated by her godfather, Michael Stipe.
(Randy Shropshire/Getty Images)
Real Estate
In 2011, Frances paid $1.825 million for a 3,357 square foot home in the Hollywood Hills. She sold the four-bedroom, four-bathroom home for $2.4 million in 2018.
In January 2021, Frances was revealed as the buyer of a new home in the Hollywood Hills. She reportedly paid $2 million for the nearly 2,400 square foot property, which features three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The .29-acre property also includes a 541 square foot guest cottage with one bedroom and two bathrooms. She sold this home in January 2022 for $2.3 million.
In 2021 she also purchased a home in San Diego's Point Loma neighborhood. She sold this home in October 2023 for $2.4 million.
