Dave Grohl has made headlines for both his music career and his personal life through the years.
Grohl rose to fame when he joined the band Nirvana in 1990. Four years later, lead singer Kurt Cobain died by suicide. In the months that followed, Grohl founded Foo Fighters.
Off stage, the 19-time Grammy Award winner was married to his first wife, Jennifer Leigh Youngblood, from 1994 to 1997. He moved on with his second wife, Jordyn Blum, in 2003. The couple welcomed daughters Violet, Harper and Ophelia in 2006, 2009 and 2014, respectively.
In September 2024, Grohl revealed that he had welcomed another child outside of his marriage. “I’ve recently become the father of a new baby daughter, born outside of my marriage,” Grohl wrote via Instagram. “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.”
He concluded, “We’re grateful for your consideration toward all the children involved, as we move forward together.”
Scroll down for more of Grohl’s ups and downs through the years:
Nirvana
Grohl joined the band in 1990 when Cobain and Krist Novoselic were looking for a guitarist. The next year, Nirvana released their album Nevermind, which is considered to be one of the best records of all-time, featuring songs like “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The band released a second album, In Utero, in 1993. Cobain died by suicide the following year.
Grohl’s Feud With Courtney Love
Cobain’s wife, Courtney Love, and Grohl began feuding in 1999 when he questioned her songwriting abilities during an interview with Howard Stern. The drama continued through the years, with a Foo Fighters song “Let It Die” seemingly featuring digs at Love and with Love accusing Grohl of hitting on her and Cobain’s daughter, Frances. (Grohl’s publicist called the accusations “absolutely untrue” at the time.)
Love and Grohl seemingly made amends at the 2014 Hall of Fame Ceremony. “It was a nice excuse to finally be friends,” he told Us Weekly later that year. “It was one of the greatest nights of my life. Wish Kurt could’ve been there!”
Grohl’s Ex-Girlfriend Tina Basich
Grohl dated Tina Basich for two years in the 1990s. After parting ways, Basich claimed that he was seeing another woman during their romance. In her 2003 memoir, Pretty Good for a Girl: The Autobiography of a Snowboarding Pioneer, Basich recalled Grohl being “busy.”
“I don’t know how anyone in his profession can have a normal relationship with a girlfriend … or two, as it turned out,” she wrote. “I found out secondhand, through the grapevine, when it seemed like everyone else in the world knew about it but me.”
When Basich tried to get details from Grohl, he told her “nothing” and ended their relationship. “All I got was a five-minute phone call from him, after five weeks of me calling and trying to get ahold of him because I just had to know if these rumors were true and had to hear it straight from the source,” she wrote.
Grohl’s 1st Marriage
Grohl tied the knot with Jennifer Leigh Youngblood in 1994 and the pair split three years later. In an interview with The Guardian in 2007, it was printed that Grohl “admitted [to] infidelities that led to his divorce from first wife.” Further details about his split from Youngblood were not released.
Grohl’s 2nd Marriage
Grohl met his second wife, Blum, when he and his then-bandmate Taylor Hawkins were at the Sunset Marquis whiskey bar in 2001. When a woman came over to Taylor, she waved her friend to come join the group – who ended up being Blum.
“I was like, ‘Oh my, God. Not a chance!’ So I’m just having some drinks and acting like a jackass. And by the end of the night I was pissed and I’m staring at her going, ‘You’re my future ex-wife,’” he told Q Magazine in 2007. “So she gave me her number: ‘Jordyn, your future ex-wife.’”
Grohl and Blum’s Kids
Blum gave birth to her and Grohl’s first daughter, Violet, in 2006. They welcomed daughters Harper and Ophelia in 2009 and 2014, respectively.
Grohl has performed with their eldest daughter through the years, including at Lollapalooza in 2001. The next year, she sang a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Help Me” at a pre-Grammys bash.
Taylor Hawkins’ Death
The same year the Foo Fighters won Best Rock Song at the 2022 Grammys for “Waiting on a War,” band member Hawkins died at age 50. Months after Hawkins’ death, Grohl broke down in tears while playing “Times Like These” at the Taylor Hawkins’ Tribute concert.
The Taylor Swift of It All
Grohl seemingly threw shade at Taylor Swift while performing a Foo Fighters show in June 2024. Grohl joked that the band likes to refer to their concerts as “The Errors Tour” — a play on Swift’s Eras Tour — because they’ve “had more than a few eras and more than a few f–king errors as well.” Grohl noted that the band has errors “because [they] actually play live.”
The following night, Swift seemingly responded to the dig during one of her shows. “Every one of my band members, every single one of our crew, my band who’s gonna be playing live for you for 3.5 hours tonight, they deserve this so much,” she said on stage. “And so does every one of my fellow performers. And you just gave that to us so generously, we will never forget it.”
When TMZ asked Grohl about the incident in August 2024, he didn’t answer. “A lot of people online thought your statements on Taylor not playing live weren’t fair. Why do you think she doesn’t sing live?” a TMZ videographer asked while Grohl got into his car.
Welcoming a Child Outside of His Marriage
Grohl shared that he fathered a child outside of his marriage in September 2024.
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