Tony Hawk ‘wishes’ Kurt Cobain could have met their grandchild (Picture: tonyhawk/Getty)
Tony Hawk has shared a tribute to Kurt Cobain as he reminisces over a Nirvana gig from the 90s and their shared ‘wondrous’ grandchild.
The skateboarding legend is father to Riley Hawk who tied the knot with Cobain’s daughter Frances Bean in 2023 after dating for more than two years.
They welcomed their baby boy, Ronin, in September last year, with Tony, 56, calling him his ‘favourite grandson’.
In an Instagram Story, Tony shared a picture of a Nirvana gig in 1991, which he went to straight after a skateboarding competition in Houston.
He wrote: ‘It was as transformative as live music can possibly be: we all experienced something rare and powerful that night. The world would never be the same.’
However, his world went on to be more changed by the late Cobain than he could have ever imagined as the families have become one.
Frances Bean Cobain married Riley Hawk in 2023(Picture: rileyhawk/Instagram)
Speaking about the singer, who died in 1994, he added: ‘I wish Kurt were here so he could see the incredible woman his daughter has become, meet her devoted, caring husband, and hold our wondrous grandchild.’
Frances, 32, is the daughter of Cobain and Courtney Love, 60, and has R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe and actress Drew Barrymore as her godparents.
Her wedding to Riley, also 32, was officiated by the former R.E.M singer but the pair kept things incredibly low-key and off social media.
She had previously been married to musician Isaiah Silva, tying the knot in 2014 but calling it quits two years later over ‘irreconcilable differences’.
Knowing what it’s like to be the children of famous parents, Riley and Frances have kept pictures of Ronin off social media as much as possible.
However, the model did share a snap of her lifting her son up on the beach calling it ‘true love’ to which her husband responded ‘my world’.
Cobain died when Frances was just 20 months old (Picture: Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
When they announced his birth, Frances wrote on Instagram: ‘9.17.2024. Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk 🩵 ✨ Welcome to the world most beautiful son. We love you more than anything ✨’
A slightly different approach than her father, who used her sonogram photo as part of the artwork for the 1992 single Lithium.
Cobain died at age 27 by suicide, just weeks after a then 20-month-old Frances reportedly last visited him at Exodus Recovery Centre in California.
On the 30th anniversary of his death, she shared how she ‘wished she could have known’ her dad.
‘The biggest lesson learned through grieving for almost as long as I’ve been conscious, is that it serves a purpose,’ Frances wrote. ‘The duality of life & death, pain & joy, yin & yang, need to exist alongside each other or none of this would have any meaning.
She and Riley welcomed baby Ronin in September 2024 (Picture: thespacewitch/Instagram)
‘It is the impermanent nature of human existence which throws us into the depths of our most authentic lives. As It turns out, there is no greater motivation for leaning into loving awareness than knowing everything ends.’
She added: ‘Kurt wrote me a letter before I was born. The last line of it reads, “wherever you go or wherever I go, I will always be with you.” 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. ✨’
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Tony Hawk sends emotional message to Kurt Cobain over their shared grandchild