Personal life drama often plays out on the world’s stage in Hollywood, and the music business is no exception. Earlier this week, longtime rocker Dave Grohl announced he’d recently welcomed a daughter into the world 55, a daughter who had been “born outside” his marriage. The announcement was made on social media and comments were turned off, but the news has still attracted public fascination --as alleged celebrity cheating tends to do -- and now fans have grown even more interested in the musician's personal life. Less than a day after the news broke, resurfaced comments from one of Grohl’s exes are running around.
Tina Basich dated Dave Grohl in the late nineties, long after he’d left grunge and his Nirvana era behind. At the time, he was still very much a part of one of the biggest rock acts around, touring with Foo Fighters, the band he’d formed in 1994 with the "stupidest fucking name" after the death of Kurt Cobain. His ex said he led a busy lifestyle, touring, doing press, occasionally writing popular TV theme songs, and still finding time to date her … and allegedly other women too.
More than 20 years ago, she detailed the experience, saying she was putting her career on hold while simultaneously feeling like she was taking up Grohl’s time, writing in her book Pretty Good For A Girl that Grohl was constantly working on music while dealing with “multimillion-dollar record contracts, deadlines with record labels, music videos [and] press tours.” She alleged he was seeing her and another woman at the same time without her knowledge, writing:
I don’t know how anyone in his profession can have a normal relationship with a girlfriend…or two, as it turned out. I found out secondhand, through the grapevine, when it seemed like everyone else in the world knew about it but me.
They broke up shortly after, but she said it was tough. Foo Fighters were everywhere in the late nineties. She’d get on an elevator and hear “Learn to Fly” in elevator music. Grohl would do press and it would pop up on her TV. She wrote of the experience (via Page Six) noting "breakups suck" but that “rock star exits are the worst.”
The pressure was too much for our relationship to handle. You can only give up so much of your heart and your career and your time and your spirit, and here I was, giving it all up for a guy and losing myself in the process.
Grohl had been married to Jennifer Leigh Youngblood prior to his relationship with Tina Basich; a Guardian article in 2007 also mentioned he’d had struggles with monogamy and cheated on his first wife. A few years later, Grohl met Jordyn Blum and they married in 2003. The couple have three children together; their youngest was born in 2014.
On Tuesday, Grohl wrote on social media he’d become a father for the fourth time.
I’ve recently become the father of a new baby daughter, born outside of my marriage. I plan to be a loving and supportive parent to her. I love my wife and my children, and I am doing everything I can to regain their trust and earn their forgiveness. We’re grateful for your consideration toward all the children involved, as we move forward together.
- UPDATE: On Wednesday, People released a report claiming that Grohl had "retained a divorce attorney before announcing" this news.
His 18-year-old daughter, Violet, has deactivated her social media following the announcement. He and his wife were last photographed together at Wimbledon earlier this year. Grohl was most recently in the news after taking shots at Taylor Swift not playing concerts live.
