Courtney Love and her daughter, Frances Bean, are distressed that a judge may rule to release photos from Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s death scene as a lawsuit rages on.
The suit–filed by Richard Lee, a Seattle television personality–requests that photos of Cobain’s body be released in order to prove that he was murdered and could not have maneuvered a self-inflicted gunshot. The legal battle comes after the debut of two documentaries about the iconic musician; Montage Of Heck, which contained interviews with Love and the people who knew Kurt best, and Soaked In Bleach, which asserts that Kurt was murdered on the orders of Courtney Love.
It’s unclear what evidence Lee believes might be in the photos, but Frances Bean Cobain is adamant about her fears that the photos will only cause more damage to her family, both emotionally and at the hands of rabid fans. The murder theory is not a new one, and Cobain’s loved ones have been subjected to numerous accusations and bizarre behavior on behalf of the band’s loyal followers, including breaking and entering.
“I have had to cope with many personal issues because of my father’s death. Coping with even the possibility that those photographs could be made public is very difficult. Further sensationalising it through the release of these pictures would cause us indescribable pain,” Frances Bean wrote in a letter to the court.
Love wrote her own letters to the court pleading with the judge to keep the documents sealed; according to the Daily Mail, she and Frances have refused to look at any of the photos from the day Kurt was found, although Love was reportedly called to the home afterward and, according to a biography by Poppy Z. Brite, took a lock of his hair.
“Public disclosure would reopen all my old wounds and cause me and my family permanent — indeed, endless and needless — pain and suffering, and would be a gross violation of our privacy interests. I would never be able to erase those haunting images from my mind. I cannot even imagine the enormity of the trauma this would cause me, not to mention many others,” Courtney Love wrote.