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‘Real’ Cobain Suicide Note Found?
On the 20th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, details of his suicide continue to trickle out. The latest is a note reportedly found on Cobain’s body that paints Courtney Love in a light different from the suicide note she read publicly.
Photo: AP Photo / Seattle Police Department
This handout photo made available by the Seattle Police Department shows an evidence photo of a letter found in the house of U.S. singer Kurt Cobain in Seattle, where he was found dead in 1994.
The new note has been kept secret until now. It was found in Cobain’s wallet and logged into evidence by Seattle police but never made public. Because the 27-year-old Cobain killed himself on April 8, 1994, police have been reviewing internal files in anticipation of media interest on the two-decade anniversary.
They recently released police photos of the scene where Cobain was found that showed drug paraphernalia next to the body.
“Do you Kurt Cobain take Courtney Michelle Love to be your lawful shredded wife,” the note says, “even when she’s a bitch with zits and siphoning all yr money for doping and whoring.”
Love read a different note to the public, one that said she was a “goddess … who sweats ambition and empathy.”
The controversial and somewhat maligned documentary “Kurt & Courtney,” which suggests that Love was a catalyst for Cobain’s death and maybe even instigated it, contended that the note Love read was not the suicide note. Investigator Tom Grant, who believes Cobain’s death was a homicide, contends the note was a farewell letter to Love, saying he was leaving her, Seattle and the music business.
The note is written on stationery from The Phoenix, a hotel in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco that was popular for touring acts because it was affordable, could accommodate touring buses and was not under scrutiny by the public or police.
CBS News said the note “promises to add fuel to the pop culture fascination with Cobain and stoke further questions about what role his famously troubled personal life and marriage played in his demise.”