Accusations of incest, a childhood Vicodin addiction, and a family fight that makes its
way to Instagram.
These kids aren’t just rock royalty - they’re also heirs to their parents’ troubled lifestyles.
Born to grunge rock royalty - Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love - Frances Bean Cobain didn't
have an easy start in life.
Even her birth was at the center of contention amid claims that Love used heroin during her
pregnancy, leading to Frances being briefly taken away by social services, per People.
"If there's anything we're determined to do, it's to give Frances as much love as we can."
Following her father's tragic death when she was just a baby, Cobain had to witness her
mom's issues with drugs, which led to Love frequently losing and regaining custody of her.
By age 17, Cobain decided to permanently live with her grandmother, Kurt's mom.
But her volatile relationship with Love did not end with the termination of her guardianship.
As reported by the Daily Mail, Cobain had to get a restraining order against her mother
after the teen made allegations of domestic violence.
Cobain also claimed that Love's behavior had gotten so out of control that she accidently
killed the family pets through neglect.
Having survived a dysfunctional upbringing, it seems a sad inevitability that Cobain herself
ended up with a drug problem.
In 2018, she celebrated two years of sobriety in a since deleted Instagram post, writing:
"It is an everyday battle to be in attendance for all the painful, [bizarre], uncomfortable,
tragic, f-ed up things that have ever happened."
She later told the Irish Independent that her personal struggles have, quote, "given
me a sense of empathy and compassion that I would never have had any other way."
Being the son of one of the greatest rock icons of all time must be a pretty difficult
legacy to live up to.
But having to endure his father's antipathy towards him was too much for Julian Lennon,
who is the son of the beloved Beatle's first wife Cynthia, to bear.
A particularly painful truth, one which Julian has had to reconcile with, is the fact that
his superstar father admitted to him being a mistake.
Regarding his love for his son Sean, who he had with second wife Yoko Ono, in contrast
to his bitter relationship with Julian, John told Playboy:
"Sean is a planned child, and therein lies the difference.
I don't love Julian any less as a child.
He's still my son, whether he came from a bottle of whiskey or because they didn't have
pills in those days."
In an explosive interview with The Telegraph, Julian branded his father a "hypocrite" and
lamented his absence throughout his childhood, arguing:
"Dad could talk about peace and love out loud to the world but he could never show it to
the people who supposedly meant the most to him: his wife and son."
"There was a great deal of anger there."
"It was very tough growing up, that's for sure."
Accordingly, the troubled Julian was led into drug misuse, having become addicted to cocaine
and alcohol in the years following his father's 1980 murder.
He blames his drug issues on having been exposed to narcotics at a young age, telling HazyRock
that his father gave him drugs when he was just four or five.
Lennon has since gotten clean.
Charlie Gilmour is the adopted son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.
His biological father, actor and poet Heathcote Williams, wanted nothing to do with him following
his birth, which is at the center of much of his personal strife, per Vogue.
In 2010, the U.K. government announced that university fees would rise to £9,000 a year.
Subsequently, protests swept across the nation.
Among those protesting was Gilmour.
Per The Guardian, despite being the son of a multimillionaire and attending the elite
Cambridge University, Gilmour felt a solidarity with the students struggling to pay their fees.
He ended up defacing a war memorial and attacking Prince Charles' car during the protests, and
he was subsequently sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Per Metro, he blamed his actions on substantial drug use.
Writing for the Independent, he admitted to contemplating suicide while in prison.
After leaving jail, Gilmour found himself faced with further turmoil, struggling with
his mental health as a result of his birth father's abandonment of him.
But one way he was able to ease his pain, and ultimately heal, was through nurturing
an abandoned magpie.
Poignantly, his adoption of the bird coincided with the death of his father.
He told Vogue:
"On a deeper level, there's a lot that caring for a creature teaches you about yourself
- particularly about the fact that in our society men are rarely taught how to express
love and care."
The son of Oasis star Liam Gallagher, Gene has inherited all his dad's famous swag and,
unfortunately, his bad boy reputation.
The younger Gallagher's baddie behavior manifested at a young age.
Per The Times, he was expelled from an elite private school in 2019.
His father, however, deemed the incident comical; when Gene told the outlet that the expulsion
was, quote, "nothing to be proud of," Liam bragged:
"Oh, it is!"
But Gene's behavior is not confined to silly school boy stunts.
The same year he was kicked out of school, he was allegedly caught stealing alcohol in
a grocery store.
As reported by the Daily Mail, Gene was hanging out with Sonny Starkey, the grandson of Beatles
drummer Ringo Starr, in the swanky Hampstead neighborhood of London when a worker accused
him of trying to swipe a can of beer.
According to witnesses, Gene launched a racist tirade against the worker, who is of South Asian descent.
Subsequently, he was charged with affray and racially aggravated assault.
In 2022, the charges were dropped.
However, the judge presiding over the trial reprimanded Gene for his brutish behavior.
The magistrate said, per NME :
"It is hard enough for people running late-night stores without entitled young men thinking
they could get what they want by misbehaving."
Despite the judge condemning that Gene behaved in a reckless manner, Liam defended his boy, tweeting:
"F--- law n order I'm into chaos n crisps"
Some might say, like father, like son.
Mackenzie Phillips is the daughter of Mamas and Papas legend John Phillips.
She may have been born into immense fortune, but Phillips' life turned into one long downward spiral.
In an interview with Oprah, she discussed her memoir, "High on Arrival," in which she
revealed that she woke up from a blackout one morning to find her father sexually assaulting
her when she was a teen.
"Your father is supposed to protect you, not f--- you."
When Phillips confronted her father the next morning, he insisted that he hadn't assaulted
his unconscious teen daughter, but, rather, they'd made love.
She said:
"And, in that moment, I thought, 'Wow, I'm really on my own here.'"
"I knew that I was probably not going to survive long in my life because of the things I was living through."
Her sister, Chynna, has said that she believes the incest claims to be true.
Although Phillips told Oprah that she initially believed her relationship with her dad was,
quote, "consensual incest," she later told "Behind the Velvet Rope" that she realized
her father had, in fact, been assaulting her.
Philips also revealed that her father first introduced her to drugs when she was just
10, and thus began a lifetime of troubles.
Per People, she was arrested at the age of 18 after being found with drug paraphernalia
while acting erratically.
In 2008, the Seattle Times reported that she was arrested at LAX after security discovered
cocaine and heroin in her bags.
Eventually, the case was dismissed after she successfully completed a treatment program,
per USA Today.
Born into a dysfunctional family, Kelly Osbourne found fame on her family's eponymous reality show.
As the daughter of The Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly found herself faced with
similar struggles to her father.
The younger Osbourne's drug issues began when she was a child.
As she revealed to "Red Table Talk," she became addicted to Vicodin following surgery and
soon moved onto harder drugs, such as heroin, though eventually got clean.
Speaking with "Extra" in 2021, Osbourne revealed that she managed to resist using drugs and
alcohol throughout the pandemic, but once lockdown ended she had a relapse.
"I thought that I could drink like a normal person.
"Yeah."
"And it turns out I cannot."
While she acknowledged that she will likely have to deal with addiction for the rest of
her life, she highlighted the importance of treating oneself with kindness.
Osbourne told "Red Table Talk" that her drug issues were exacerbated by her low self-esteem.
She admitted:
"I went from having every voice in my head being like, 'You're fat, you're ugly, you're
not good enough.
[. . .] people only like you because of who your parents are.'"
"And then all of a sudden, every single voice was silenced, and it felt like life gave me a hug."
In an interview with Glamour, Osbourne opened up about her poor self-image, but said that
ceasing to compare herself to others helped her develop body confidence.
She explained:
"No, we are not all Gisele Bundchen; we're not all Beyoncé.
But I can tell you even the most beautiful girls in the world have felt insecure."
Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee has a well-documented history of domestic violence against ex-wife
Pamela Anderson.
Accordingly, he has grown estranged from the couple's children, Brandon Thomas and Dylan Jagger.
In 2018, ET reported that Lee was pressing charges after getting into a physical altercation
with Brandon, sharing gruesome snaps of his bloody injuries in a now-deleted Instagram post.
While also warning girls not to date his supposedly violent son in an Instagram story, he wrote:
"You can give your kids everything they could ever want in their entire lives and they can
still turn against you.
Good job Brandon!
Great son!"
Accordingly, Lee's partner, Brittany Furlan, warned police that Brandon is a dangerous individual.
She told 911 operators:
"My stepson has guns in his room, and that's why I'm freaked out."
However, Brandon may have acted in self-defense.
Per People, Brandon claimed that he was merely protecting his mom after Lee posted a series
of disrespectful tweets about Anderson, mocking her allegations that he is a domestic abuser.
Emphasizing that he didn't want to discuss the feud, but his father's brazen social media
posts had made the deeply private matter public knowledge, Brandon told the outlet:
"I'm devastated at the events of the last several days that have been a result of my
father's alcoholism."
Like his dad, Brandon has struggled with his personal demons, but he celebrated three years
of sobriety in 2019, telling Interview that he survived, quote, "one of the darkest spots
of my entire life."
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available.
Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact
SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).