Frances Bean Cobain pays tribute to dad Kurt Cobain on 30th anniversary of his death

Frances Bean Cobain was just 1 when her father died in 1994.

April 5, 2024, 6:10 PM

Frances Bean Cobain paid tribute to her late dad Kurt Cobain on Friday, 30 years after his death.

In a moving post she shared on Instagram alongside several photos, the model reflected on the lessons she's learned about grief over the years and how she wishes she could have known her father, who was the frontman of the rock band Nirvana.

"The biggest lesson learned through grieving for almost as long as I've been conscious, is that it serves a purpose," she wrote. "The duality of life & death, pain & joy, yin & yang, need to exist along side each other or none of this would have any meaning."

"It is the impermanent nature of human existence which throws us into the depths of our most authentic lives," she continued. "As it turns out, there is no greater motivation for leaning into loving awareness than knowing everything ends."

PHOTO: Kurt Cobain of Nirvana during the taping of MTV Unplugged at Sony Studios in New York, Nov. 18, 1993.
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana during the taping of MTV Unplugged at Sony Studios in New York, Nov. 18, 1993.
Frank Micelotta Archive/Getty Images

Frances Bean Cobain's post included three photos, including a photo of Kurt Cobain's hands taken by Michael Stipe and two images of a young Frances Bean Cobain with her father, which the 31-year-old said was the last time they were together when he was alive.

"I wish I could've known my Dad," she wrote alongside the images. "I wish I knew the cadence of his voice, how he liked his coffee or the way it felt to be tucked in after a bedtime story. I always wondered if he would've caught tadpoles with me during the muggy Washington summers, or if he smelled of Camel Lights & strawberry nesquik (his favorites, I've been told)."

"But there is also deep wisdom being on an expedited path to understanding how precious life is," she continued. "He gifted me a lesson in death that can only come through the LIVED experience of losing someone. It's the gift of knowing for certain, when we love ourselves & those around us with compassion, with openness, with grace, the more meaningful our time here inherently becomes."

Frances Bean Cobain also shared a line from a letter her father wrote to her before she was born.

"The last line of it reads, 'wherever you go or wherever I go, I will always be with you,'" she wrote. "He kept this promise because he is present in so many ways. Whether it's by hearing a song or through the hands we share, in those moments I get to spend a little time with my dad & he feels transcendent. ✨"

PHOTO: Kurt Cobain of Nirvana with wife Courtney Love and daughter Frances Bean Cobain, Sept. 2, 1993, at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana with wife Courtney Love and daughter Frances Bean Cobain, Sept. 2, 1993, at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images

She ended her post, "To anyone who has wondered what it would've looked like to live along side the people they have lost, I'm holding you in my thoughts today."

"The meaning of our grief is the same," she added.

Kurt Cobain and his wife, Hole frontwoman Courtney Love, welcomed Frances Bean Cobain in August 1992.

Frances Bean Cobain was just 1 when her father died by suicide on April 5, 1994. The singer struggled with substance abuse and mental health issues throughout his life.