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Courtney Love: Kurt Cobain Wanted Fame “Bad,” Was “Absolutely Desperate” To Be Big Rock Star

Nirvana may have urged listeners to “Come as You Are,” but according to Courtney Love, frontman Kurt Cobain didn’t follow the same wisdom, instead choosing to put on a front for one of the integral parts of his image. 

The late Cobain, who died in 1994 at the age of 27, made his disdain for fame and the spotlight well-known during his time with the Grammy-winning band Nirvana. 

Related: PHOTOS: Stars gone too soon

However, in a new interview with National Geographic for the channel’s The 90s: The Last Great Decade? miniseries, Cobain’s former wife Love says that was not the case behind closed doors. Love, 49, sat down for a revealing chat with NatGeo for a segment on Nirvana and the importance of the band in the 1990s. 

Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain

The segment includes vintage footage of Cobain saying, “I’m too stubborn to allow myself to ever compromise our music or turn us into big rock stars. I just don’t feel like that.”

Related: PHOTOS: Nirvana at the Rock Hall

Yet, according to Love, a “big rock star” was exactly what Cobain was hoping to become. 

“He wanted it bad,” Love spilled, as she sipped from a coffee cup. “He wrote to every major, minor… any label. ‘We’ll pay! Let us be on your label!'”

Related: PHOTOS: Courtney's transformation

“He was desperate to be the biggest rock star in the world,” the Hole musician continued about Cobain. “Absolutely desperate. But he made it look like it was thrust upon him.”

Watch Love and the late Cobain speak in the video above. 

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