CELEB EXCLUSIVE: 'I am the best mother in the world'

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Jan 4, 2004 | by Deirdre O'Brien

Controversy and Courtney Love are never far apart, and after her antics in October and November last year, the bad girl of rock was in trouble once again. We chart the events of last year, and try and figure out what exactly is going on inside Courtney's head....

CHAIN OF EVENTS

2 October 2003, 2am: Courtney is arrested outside the home of former boyfriend, record producer James Barber. Neighbours report her allegedly breaking windows and screaming abuse, but Love claims she was there to pick up a CD of songs she was working on with Barber. A drug test taken at the scene proves positive and Courtney is arrested and taken to the police station where she posts bail and is released.

6am: Police called to Courtney's Beverly Hills home. She's taken to a local hospital, treated for a drug overdose and detained for psychological assessment.

Following week: Child protection officers visit daughter Frances Bean's school and take her into custody, placing her with her grandmother, Kurt Cobain's mother Wendy O'Connor. 'I'm not on narcotics,' Courtney says. 'I just want my daughter back.'

6 October: Courtney tells People magazine she'd taken an overdose of OxyContin ('hillbilly heroin') and described how she tried to make her overdose 'fun' for Frances Bean by making her drink green tea while waiting for the ambulance.

28 October: Courtney turns herself in to police to answer a warrant for her arrest over allegations of illegally possessing prescription drugs.

13 November: Courtney appears in court with her lawyer, her beagle Molly and a bunch of red roses, and pleads not guilty to two charges of possessing drugs without a prescription, branding charges 'a pile of crap'.

4 December: Courtney voluntarily checks into LA's exclusive Wave Links drug rehab clinic.

INSIDE COURTNEY'S MIND...

On rehab/arrest 'That was the night I went to the loony bin - the loony bin had been preplanned for three days. Meanwhile, children's services had been watching me for 14 weeks. But I wasn't on anything. I'm, like, please don't arrest me, I've never been arrested. I mean, who would do this to another person? And he (James Barber) lured me, he knew I was going to come for that CD.'

On the overdose

'Poor Frances. She makes this green tea, she's calm as a cucumber and then the ambulance comes and I'm in it. I come back and, all of a sudden, children's services is at my door. I'm freaked out, the law and order thing goes right out the window. The detective is picking up dollar bills and sniffing them. Oh come on, if anyone ever did that it was a long time ago.'

On her in-laws

'Kurt's mother has called - she's been cut off for months financially, she doesn't have a phone, she doesn't have a pot to piss in. She's been told I'm doing crack, doing this, that and all the other. Horrible stories. If I was Frances's grandmother I'd run me down with an axe if I had been told those things. Frances and me are living on a debit card today. Listen, I've been poor and I know what it's like. But I am not broke. My net worth is massive.'

On her problems

'I've gone through AA and through rehab, and I know what the limits of my drug addiction are. I had a nurse. It was cheap and really cool - the nurse would give me my pills once a day and that was cool. I just wanted to do it - particularly when you are making a film or a record, you just want to be pure, you want to be as sober as possible.'

On being an unfit mother

'There's a thing called parentification and it's something I learned during this custody battle. I don't care if you are an alcoholic, if you are f***ed up, if you are a rock star, I don't care if you work the graveyard shift... Basically, the biggest thing they have on me is I work the graveyard shift. They're, like, (claiming) abandonment, and I'm like, for what? Frances has a nanny she's had for five years.'

On looking after Frances Bean

'My daughter is not a 30-year-old. I am not an alcoholic, I don't come home like that, and my daughter has only seen two men in that home ever. So, any little extra-curricular activities - and believe me, I've had a few - they happen on my own time in my own space, away from her. I am just not into Uncle Bob and Uncle Don and uncle f***ing Colin.'

On Colin Farrell

'I could tame that one, I'm telling you. Make a bet - Farrell, I could tame his ass. You know what I like about him? He's funny, he drinks too damn much, which I could deal with, I could fix that part. He makes good career choices but he's being a bit of a dick and he's being too slutty. He needs to watch his health, because he'll get HIV if he doesn't watch his health. I think he's just a boy in need of a little shaping. Just a little fun. He would be a good f*** buddy.'

On her talent

'I write lyrics, that's something girls tend to do. I don't mean to sound arrogant but everybody knows I'm the best lyricist of my generation. Everybody knows that and nobody is going to give it to me until after I am dead, and that's OK. Or perhaps I will get very fat and old and you'll give it to me in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame.'