Rock goddess Courtney Love’s marriage to late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was one of the defining pop culture romances of the 1990s — but many do not remember that she dated a Hollywood megastar later in the decade.
Shortly after Cobain’s 1994 death, Love had her acting breakthrough with the role of Hustler copublisher Althea Leasure Flynt in the 1996 biopic The People vs. Larry Flynt. The Miloš Forman-directed movie dramatized the controversial life of Hustler founder Larry Flynt, starring Woody Harrelson in the title role and Edward Norton as Flynt’s attorney Alan Isaacman.
The People vs. Larry Flynt brought Love a new level of mainstream visibility, as she received a Best Actress nomination from the Golden Globes for the role. Love also started stepping out with costar Norton at numerous industry events before they ultimately went their separate ways in 1999.
“I’m working on my man-karma… I should have married Edward,” she admitted to Breaking News in 2006. “I left Ed Norton, who was good and wonderful, for an average man. It’s upsetting.”
Keep scrolling for more about this tumultuous period in Love’s life.
Courtney Love’s Husband Kurt Cobain Died in 1994
Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain were icons of the early 1990s grunge rock scene as the lead vocalists for Hole and Nirvana, respectively. They tied the knot on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, on February 24, 1992, in front of a handful of close friends, including Cobain’s bandmate Dave Grohl.
Love was pregnant on her wedding day and soon welcomed daughter Frances Bean Cobain on August 18, 1992. Cobain and Love’s marriage was notoriously rocky — with constant press reports accusing her of dominating the Nirvana star’s life and career.
“Neither of us really liked the whole ‘Courtney is the bad guy’ thing,” she told V Magazine in 2015. “He f***ing hated it as much as I did because it shamed him, it emasculated him, and it made him look weak. He is considered to be the rock star who didn’t want fame, the weak pathetic guy who was taken over by this controlling female, and yadda yadda. It kind of f***ed me up, and to be honest with you.”
The rock world was plunged into mourning when Kurt died by suicide at age 27 on April 8, 1994. Later that year, Love spoke to Rolling Stone about experiencing such all-encompassing loss.
“I used to be able to talk to Kurt more, wherever he is,” Love said. “But now he’s really gone. I used to feel like mourning him was really selfish because it would make him feel guilty. And the best thing to do was to pray for him and show him joy, so he could feel the vibration of the joy. But now I know he’s dissipated, and he’s gone. There’s not anything left. Not even to talk to.”
Courtney Love and Edward Norton Worked Together on ‘The People vs. Larry Flynt’
In the aftermath of Kurt Cobain’s death, Courtney Love forged a new career path as an actress. While she had small roles in gritty ‘80s movies Sid and Nancy and Straight to Hell, her acting breakthrough came through playing Hustler copublisher Althea Leasure Flynt in 1996’s The People vs. Larry Flynt, opposite Woody Harrelson and Edward Norton.
Norton and Love were linked soon after filming the biographical drama, though Norton tried to downplay the seriousness of the relationship in a string of 1997 interviews.
“When you’re working hard, you keep your nose down. You can’t afford to be distracted by that stuff,” he told The Chicago Tribune that year.
However, Courtney eventually confirmed that Norton moved in with her and her daughter, Frances Bean, at their Los Angeles home in the late 1990s. The rocker confided in Interview Magazine that she once had an otherworldly encounter with late husband Cobain after moving on with Norton.
“When I moved to Hancock Park from Seattle with Frances and Edward, I saw Kurt in a chair for a moment,” she revealed. “He said hi to me and then he left.”
Courtney Love and Edward Norton Clashed Over Their Careers
This new high-profile relationship coincided with Courtney Love receiving more mainstream attention than ever, given her acclaimed performance in The People vs. Larry Flynt. However, Love accused Norton of trying to exert control over her budding acting career by urging her to turn down roles in Girl Interrupted and The Matrix.
“[The Matrix] was nine months in this remote part of Australia and I remember Norton telling me, ‘Oh don’t do it, Val Kilmer’s in it!’ Like, Val Kilmer wasn’t even in it! I mean, was that a reason not to do it? A lot of people were like, ‘what happened with the film thing?’” she told Hot Press in 2010. “I was like, ‘What happened with the f***ing film thing is I had a boyfriend in Edward Norton who wanted to f***ing tame me, as many men have tried to do, as many men still do try and do, and… ’ You know, ‘Let’s chain the rock star!’”
Love admitted that she especially hated being viewed by the public as “Mrs. Norton” during that phase in her life.
“‘She used to be Courtney Love.’ That’s really what was going on in that relationship,” the rock star recalled. “And a lot of people were saying, ‘Oh, he saved you, he saved you!’ No, he didn’t save me – he wanted me to be his waspy wife.”
Courtney Love Claimed She Had a Fling With Gavin Rossdale
Speaking to Hot Press in 2010, Courtney Love revealed that she dated fellow rocker Gavin Rossdale for “eight months” and that there was “some overlap between when I dated Edward (Norton) and he dated Gwen [Stefani].”
“Never when [Rossdale and Stefani] were engaged,” she quickly clarified. “So we were like sorta f*** buddies. He was playing the field. He was seeing Gwen, he was seeing me. It was common knowledge. So it was a bit of an overlap back in the ‘90s. No big deal. I would never sleep with a … Actually, I did once sleep with a married man, that was a terrible thing. As advertised – disastrous! And Gavin was lovely.”
Love alleged that both Stefani and Norton “forbade” her from carrying things further with Rossdale.
“So that was that. But we dated straight-up for eight months,” she insisted.
Courtney Love and Edward Norton Split in 1999
The People vs. Larry Flynt costars split in early 1999. (Edward Norton later married producer Shauna Robertson in 2012 and they share a son, Atlas, born in March 2013.)
“I love Edward so much,” Love told Vanity Fair in 2003, “It’s not in anybody’s history book that we dated because he managed to scare the vultures off.”
Love’s recollections on her time with Norton have been decidedly mixed over the years. She described Norton as “honourable but a terrifically [SIC] bad sexist” as well as “one of my best friends I have or will ever have” in a series of confusing tweets in February 2010. (Love later apologized for her Twitter rant.)
Years later, Love was asked via an Instagram Story whether she’d had any “good boyfriends?” She replied with a photo of Norton and captioned it, “Here’s one.”
Love never got married again following Cobain’s death. She described herself as a “libertine” during a 2025 appearance on the “Fashion Neurosis” podcast.
“The person that I most do my romantic crap with is also a libertine, so we are really more friends with benefits,” she teased.
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