Courtney Love admits she took heroin while pregnant with Francis Bean Cobain

Kurt Cobain's widow has told of her drug use while she was pregnant with their daughter

Courtney Love has admitted using heroin while pregnant with Frances Bean Cobain, her daughter with Kurt Cobain (Rex Features)

Courtney Love has admitted that she took heroin while she was pregnant with daughter Frances Bean Cobain.

The Hole frontwoman said in new HBO documentary Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck: "I used it once then stopped. I knew she would be fine."

Love's battle with substance abuse is well documented, but this is the first time that she has admitted to using the drug while pregnant with Frances, who is now 22.

In the documentary, Love says that at the height of his fame with Nirvana, Cobain wanted to "stay in their apartment, do heroin and paint".

Love has previously said that she first tried heroin aged 16 after mistaking it for cocaine while working in a dance hall in Taiwan. She quit her addiction in 1996.

The documentary was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, and looks at the Nirvana singer's early life up until he found success with the band.

Frances Cobain was executive producer of the film and walked the red carpet with her once-estranged mother.