Frances Bean Cobain Shares Her Story of Addiction and Recovery

Courtney Love's daughter celebrates two years of sobriety in Oahu, Hawaii

By Zach Johnson Feb 14, 2018 2:35 PMTags
Frances Bean Cobain, 2017 Met Gala ArrivalsNeilson Barnard/Getty Images

Frances Bean Cobain, the 25-year-old daughter of rock legends Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, announced on Instagram Tuesday that she was celebrating her second year of sobriety. The visual artist is no stranger to addiction, as both of her famous parents have abused drugs. To clear the air, Frances first explained why she hadn't discussed her addiction issues until now.

"I thought I would start this post by using a pure moment in Oahu amongst nature, with my love," she said. "This moment is a representation of who I am on February 13th, 2018. It feels significant here, now because it's my 2nd sober birthday. It's an interesting and kaleidoscopic decision to share my feelings about something so intimate in a public forum. The fact that I'm sober isn't really public knowledge, decidedly and deliberately. But I think it's more important to put aside my fear about being judged or misunderstood or typecast as one specific thing."

Recognizing that, as a person in the public eye, she can help others, she felt compelled to speak out. "I want to have the capacity to recognize & observe that my journey might be informative, even helpful to other people who are going through something similar or different. It is an everyday battle to be in attendance for all the painful, bazaar, uncomfortable, tragic, f--ked up things that have ever happened or will ever happen," Frances explained. "Self destruction and toxic consumption and deliverance from pain is a lot easier to adhere to. Undeniably, for myself and those around me becoming present is the best decision I have ever made. How we treat our bodies directly correlates to how we treat our souls. It's all interconnected. It has to be."

Celebrating her "vibrant health" Frances said she plans to focus on an "abundance of happiness, gratitude, awareness, compassion, empathy, strength, fear, loss, wisdom, peace and the myriad of other messy emotions I feel constantly. They inform who I am, what my intentions are, who i want to be and they force me to acknowledge my boundaries/limitations. I claim my mistakes as my own because I believe them to contribute to the dialogue of my higher education in life."

Frances, who recently celebrated her one-year anniversary with boyfriend Matthew Cook, added that she is "constantly evolving," particularly with this journey. "The moment I stop my evolution is the moment I disservice myself and ultimately those I love. As cheesy and cornball as it sounds life does get better, if you want it to. I'll never claim I know something other people don't. I only know what works for me and seeking to escape my life no longer works for me."

The Hollywood scion ended her note with a message of "peace," "love" and "empathy."