Courtney Love took to the airwaves on the nationally syndicated “Howard Stern Show” this morning Thursday to defend her spate of erratic behavior, the latest example of which was failing to show up for two court hearings the day before in Los Angeles. A bench warrant was issued for her arrest on a felony drug possession charge.
“I didn’t show up for court because I didn’t have a professional bodyguard,” Love told Stern. That echoes the “security concerns” her attorney offered as an explanation to Beverly Hills, Calif., Superior Court Judge Elden Fox, who agreed to hold the arrest order until Tuesday.
Both cases stem from Love’s Oct. 2 arrest outside the Beverly Hills home of a boyfriend, where police said she was breaking windows in the middle of the night. Hours after being released on bail, she was taken to a local hospital for what police called “a medical emergency.”
In an unscheduled rambling, expletive-laden phone conversation with Stern, Love addressed the charges against her. “I didn’t throw any rocks at the window,” she said. “I kicked in the door because I didn’t have a key. That’s the god’s truth.”
Commenting on charges she faces for possessing the prescription painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone, she said, “Oxycontin is Percocet without the aspirin in it. I’ve shattered my hip twice. I certainly do take it under a doctor’s guidance. I have serious pain sometimes and it hurts. Let’s let the doctors decide.”
Love also spoke about the ongoing battle she is waging with relatives of her late husband, Kurt Cobain, for custody of their 11-year-old daughter, Frances Bean.
“My daughter is depressed beyond belief,” she said. “Because you know what? She likes me. It is kind of hard when your grandmother goes after your money.”
The artist maintains that the battle is rooted less in her own behavior than the family’s attempts to gain control of Frances Bean’s sizable inheritance. “All that is at work here is human greed,” she said. “I thought I knew evil but I didn’t know anything. The greed is outrageous.”
Love seemed eager to resolve the legal issues and begin a tour in support of her Virgin solo debut, “America’s Sweetheart,” which was released Tuesday. “I want to do my rock thing and move on,” she said. “The black cloud is passing.”
She is scheduled to call in to the Stern show again Friday.