The Jewish Chronicle

How Jewish is Courtney Love?

June 5, 2008 23:00
1 min read

Rock singer Courtney Love was in the news this week after the ashes of her former lover, Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, were stolen from her home in Los Angeles. That led us to start debating whether she was Jewish. Against Love’s birth name is Courtney Michelle Harrison, not particularly Jewish. In fact, she is mostly Irish on her father’s side. Neither was her upbringing haimishe. Although she was raised in a commune, it had nothing to do with a kibbutz, and was in fact in Oregon. She moved via New Zealand to Liverpool, before finding herself back on the West Coast, where she started dating legendary grunge poster-boy Cobain. Her marriage was not a Jewish one, and we are guessing that she probably did not make him chicken soup on a Friday night. For This is a little complicated, so pay attention. Courtney’s mother Linda Carroll is the daughter of renowned Jewish novelist Paula Fox. So at the very least she is halachically Jewish. But Linda was given up for adoption and no one is quite sure who the father was. It may have been Marlon Brando — they were close. Courtney herself is unsure. In an interview, she said: “I’m at least five-eighths Jewish, depending on whether my grandfather was that famous actor or Sam Brand, a publicist for that actor. So you see, I’m a nice Jewish girl and I’ve lots of Irish in me. Norman Mailer said it was the coolest thing to be half-Irish, half-Jewish.” Verdict Scarily enough, Courtney is a halachic Jew. So we say she is 66% Jewish