Just a year after turning 18 and gaining access to a ton of trust money,
Frances Bean Cobain is investing in the Los Angeles real estate market -- shelling out $1.875 million for a house all her own.
The 3,350 square foot Spanish-style home has 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, a terrace, vintage light fixtures and hardware, stained glass windows and a media room.
The 19-year-old rock heiress is reportedly attending college in upstate New York -- so this is just her West Coast crash pad ... in between semesters.
Nirvana front man
Kurt Cobain has yet another way to be immortalized -- TMZ has learned, a 13-foot statue of a guitar was erected today ... in honor of the 17th anniversary of his death.
The statue will be unveiled this afternoon in Cobain's hometown of Aberdeen, WA. We're told his grandfather is expected to attend, as well as former band members from Nirvana.
TMZ spoke with the statue's artist -- Lora Malakoff -- who tells us, the guitar will rest near the infamous Young Street Bridge, which the musician often sought refuge under to write lyrics.
A moment of silence please.
The administrator for the trust of
Courtney Love's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, wants to know how Courtney may have spent Frances Bean's money.
TMZ has obtained legal docs filed in connection with the
Frances Bean Cobain Irrevocable Trust. The co-trustee -- Laird Norton Tyee Trust Company -- filed legal papers today in L.A. County Superior Court, asking an L.A. judge for a subpoena to produce documents.
Sources tell TMZ among the documents Laird wants to inspect -- receipts, checks and other items to determine if Courtney may have misappropriated money that was earmarked for Frances Bean. Until December, Courtney had control over some of Frances Bean's financial affairs. But on December 11, an L.A. County Superior Court judge stripped Courtney of parental and financial control.
The trust was established on Frances Bean's behalf in Seattle, Washington where her dad,
Nirvana frontman
Kurt Cobain, died.
No immediate comment from Courtney's camp.
Kurt Cobain's
family claims
Courtney Love has been an unfit parent for years -- and the plan to take custody of
Frances Bean Cobain has been years in the making.
Charles Fradenburg -- Kurt Cobain's uncle -- told TMZ his sister
Wendy O'Connor "has been trying to get custody of Frances for quite a few years."
As we first reported, a judge appointed Wendy -- who is Kurt's mother -- as one of the two guardians of Frances Bean last week.
Fradenburg also tells us, "Courtney is not fit to take care of Frances, she can barely take care of herself ... Courtney wasn't doing any parenting at all, she was hiring nannies to do all of the work."
Fradenburg said, "This is a wonderful thing for the family."
Courtney Love has not only lost legal control over her daughter--
Frances Bean Cobain -- TMZ has learned a judge has now issued a
restraining order, prohibiting Courtney from having any direct or indirect contact with the 17-year-old.
Sources tell us the temporary restraining order was signed under seal.
As TMZ first reported, lawyers for the guardianship went into court last Friday, where a judge created a temporary guardianship on behalf of Frances Bean. The legal guardians are Wendy O'Connor,
Kurt Cobain's mom, and Kimberly Dawn Cobain, Kurt's sister.
A hearing to make the restraining order permanent is set for January 5.
Courtney Love is having trouble gaining access to her daughter's hefty trust fund -- and it's all because the bank claims she's not the only one trying to access the cash.
The First Republic Bank filed papers in federal court in San Francisco last week, claiming there's a dispute over who can access the funds in
Frances Bean Cobain's trust -- Courtney or the
Laird Norton Tyee Trustee Company.
The bank put a hold on all withdrawals from the trust -- worth over $1.2 million -- until the court can sort out who's really in charge.
Love's attorney, Keith Fink, calls the filling "childish and vindictive" -- telling us Courtney and the trustee agreed to move the $1.2 mil to a different bank ... but FRB doesn't want to lose such a large account, and just filed the papers to stall the transfer.
Team
Courtney Love is finally expanding on why she's so pissed off at the makers of
Guitar Hero -- and it seems her beef is over the songs that the digital version of her husband is forced to sing in the game.
TMZ spoke with Love's attorney who told us Cobain's widow did give permission for the game makers to use Kurt's name and likeness -- but she never, ever signed off on a deal that would allow them to make Kurt sing Bon Jovi tunes in the game.
Love's lawyer told us, "
Activision is exploiting Kurt's image in a manner anathema to the very essence of his music, spirit and essence.
I along with Ms. Cobain hope those who love Kurt's music strongly voice their sentiments to Activision and demand his image not be debased by singing the songs of Bon Jovi.Bon Jovi gave Love a bad name? How ironic.
Courtney Love is on the warpath -- threatening to "sue the s**t" out of the people behind
Guitar Hero after she saw
Kurt Cobain's image in the video game.
Cobain's widow just unleashed a serious Twitter attack on
Activision -- the game developer -- saying they never got her permission to use Kurt's image ... and she wouldn't have given it to them if they had asked. Here's a sample:
"not in twenty JILLION years would i EVER have allowed this and this islethal." "we get NO money for this, travesty, Frances gets NO money for the rape."Love is no stranger to lawsuits ... we'll let you know when she takes this thing to court.
UPDATE: Activision released the following statement:
"Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain's likeness as a fully playable character in Guitar Hero® 5."
Here's actor/30 Seconds to Mars member Jared Leto at NY Fashion Week on Sunday (
left) -- and late Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain back in 1993 (
right).
One of them made amazing music.
We're just sayin'.
Forbes has once again released its annual Top-Earning Dead Celebrities list, and while it's no surprise why most of the buried big shots made the list (Kurt Cobain,
John Lennon and Elvis are all still banking from music sales) there were two lifeless wonders that left us scratching our heads -- Albert Einstein and Marilyn Monroe.
According to Forbes, Marilyn Monroe raked in a cool $8 million last year, earning her the ninth spot on the dead earners list. But where is it all coming from? Nearly a half-century after her death, the blonde bombshell is still cashing in on her image -- or rather the licensing of it.
Just recently, Marilyn's image was used to sell perfume in Europe, Dom Perignon champagne, Absolut vodka and vehicles for General Motors. And don't forget about the thousands of lesser-known products with Marilyn's face on them ranging from t-shirts to posters. Just like J.F.K., seems like the world can't get enough Marilyn.
