Post by AtomHeartMother on Sept 8, 2004 0:28:35 GMT -5
Courtney Love: She's lost that loving feeling[/b]
A string of court appearances on drug and assault charges has brought Courtney Love to her lowest ebb yet. Fiona Sturges wonders what's next for the embattled rock diva, film star and widow of Kurt Cobain
07 September 2004
Courtney Love could always be relied upon to look after herself. Never one to back away from a scrap, the singer and actress has a reputation for setting lawyers on anyone who dares cross her. Where they fail, she will happily wade in herself, sleeves rolled up, nails sharpened.
Now, however, Love has not only lost her ability to safeguard her image; it appears that she has lost the plot too. In recent months, her name has been attached to a slew of court trials. Later today, she will appear in court to answer charges of assault and reckless endangerment after reportedly attacking a fan with a microphone. On 30 September, she will have to appear for a hearing on felony charges of illegal possession of prescription painkillers, and that's not forgetting the charge of assault with a deadly weapon that could see her imprisoned for up to four years.
When Love arrived in court at the end of July, she appeared meek and defeated. She was ordered to enrol in an 18-month rehabilitation programme, during which she is required to steer clear of alcohol, submit to random drug tests and attend regular counselling sessions. If Love sticks to the programme laid out by the Los Angeles judge, it's likely that she will avoid a spell in jail.
Getting her career back on track will prove less straightforward, however. Her solo album, the mischievously titled America's Sweetheart, released last February, should have been a triumphant comeback, though her refusal to promote it ensured that it barely troubled the album charts. Meanwhile, her acting career stalled after she starred in the flop thriller Trapped in 2002. There have been mutterings, too, that due to her much-publicised drug problems Love is deemed too much of a risk by film studios. It's a strange reversal of her situation a decade ago.
"Courtney Love's is a genuinely pathetic, tragic story," says Paul Rees, editor of Q magazine. "She's obviously someone who is deeply troubled and deeply out of control. She's certainly the most genuinely unhinged person I've ever dealt with," he says, recalling his abortive attempt to arrange an interview with the singer a couple of Christmases ago.
"We were going to do a cover with her, with lavish photography and a major interview with one of our best journalists. But the whole thing unravelled in such a spectacular fashion we had to demote it. The interview culminated in her setting fire to about £8,000 worth of clothes we had bought for her, and then rolling around naked in front of the photographer. I don't think she's a well women. And she needs help."
Certainly, Love's erratic behaviour would suggest that her grip on reason is becoming increasingly shaky. The latest chapter in her troubled existence began last year when she was arrested at Heathrow airport after an altercation on a Virgin flight. She escaped with a caution. In October, Love lost custody of her daughter, 11-year-old Frances Bean, after police were called to the Love household to deal with an undisclosed "medical emergency".
The following week the singer gave an interview to an American newspaper in which she admitted to taking an overdose of the painkiller OxyContin, but said that it was an accident. Later, she pleaded not guilty to the illegal possession of prescription drugs, a charge that is punishable by up to three years and eight months in jail.
But Love's unruly behaviour had only just got started. In mid-March the singer was arrested in New York for allegedly assaulting a fan with a microphone stand at a gig. Earlier in the evening she had appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman where she repeatedly flashed her breasts and clambered onto the host's desk for a hideous rendition of "Danny Boy". After leaving, she reportedly exposed herself again in a nearby burger bar. In April another warrant for her arrest was issued after claims that Love had attacked a woman at the home of Jim Barber, her former boyfriend and ex-manager, using a bottle and a torch, while allegedly under the influence of illegal drugs.
CONTINUED:
A string of court appearances on drug and assault charges has brought Courtney Love to her lowest ebb yet. Fiona Sturges wonders what's next for the embattled rock diva, film star and widow of Kurt Cobain
07 September 2004
Courtney Love could always be relied upon to look after herself. Never one to back away from a scrap, the singer and actress has a reputation for setting lawyers on anyone who dares cross her. Where they fail, she will happily wade in herself, sleeves rolled up, nails sharpened.
Now, however, Love has not only lost her ability to safeguard her image; it appears that she has lost the plot too. In recent months, her name has been attached to a slew of court trials. Later today, she will appear in court to answer charges of assault and reckless endangerment after reportedly attacking a fan with a microphone. On 30 September, she will have to appear for a hearing on felony charges of illegal possession of prescription painkillers, and that's not forgetting the charge of assault with a deadly weapon that could see her imprisoned for up to four years.
When Love arrived in court at the end of July, she appeared meek and defeated. She was ordered to enrol in an 18-month rehabilitation programme, during which she is required to steer clear of alcohol, submit to random drug tests and attend regular counselling sessions. If Love sticks to the programme laid out by the Los Angeles judge, it's likely that she will avoid a spell in jail.
Getting her career back on track will prove less straightforward, however. Her solo album, the mischievously titled America's Sweetheart, released last February, should have been a triumphant comeback, though her refusal to promote it ensured that it barely troubled the album charts. Meanwhile, her acting career stalled after she starred in the flop thriller Trapped in 2002. There have been mutterings, too, that due to her much-publicised drug problems Love is deemed too much of a risk by film studios. It's a strange reversal of her situation a decade ago.
"Courtney Love's is a genuinely pathetic, tragic story," says Paul Rees, editor of Q magazine. "She's obviously someone who is deeply troubled and deeply out of control. She's certainly the most genuinely unhinged person I've ever dealt with," he says, recalling his abortive attempt to arrange an interview with the singer a couple of Christmases ago.
"We were going to do a cover with her, with lavish photography and a major interview with one of our best journalists. But the whole thing unravelled in such a spectacular fashion we had to demote it. The interview culminated in her setting fire to about £8,000 worth of clothes we had bought for her, and then rolling around naked in front of the photographer. I don't think she's a well women. And she needs help."
Certainly, Love's erratic behaviour would suggest that her grip on reason is becoming increasingly shaky. The latest chapter in her troubled existence began last year when she was arrested at Heathrow airport after an altercation on a Virgin flight. She escaped with a caution. In October, Love lost custody of her daughter, 11-year-old Frances Bean, after police were called to the Love household to deal with an undisclosed "medical emergency".
The following week the singer gave an interview to an American newspaper in which she admitted to taking an overdose of the painkiller OxyContin, but said that it was an accident. Later, she pleaded not guilty to the illegal possession of prescription drugs, a charge that is punishable by up to three years and eight months in jail.
But Love's unruly behaviour had only just got started. In mid-March the singer was arrested in New York for allegedly assaulting a fan with a microphone stand at a gig. Earlier in the evening she had appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman where she repeatedly flashed her breasts and clambered onto the host's desk for a hideous rendition of "Danny Boy". After leaving, she reportedly exposed herself again in a nearby burger bar. In April another warrant for her arrest was issued after claims that Love had attacked a woman at the home of Jim Barber, her former boyfriend and ex-manager, using a bottle and a torch, while allegedly under the influence of illegal drugs.
CONTINUED: