Courtney Love is changing her name because she feels "oppressed".

The Hole frontwoman - whose real name is Courtney Michelle Harrison - insists she now wants to be known as Courtney Michelle because her old Alter Ego is "dead".

She said: "Here's the thing you need to know: Courtney Love is dead. We've put her away, we've all decided we don't like her any more. We love her when she goes on stage, but I don't need her in the rest of my life.

"I'm Courtney Michelle. The name Courtney Love is a way to oppress me.

"I know I did it myself. No-one's saying I didn't do it to myself but, and there is a but, I got hatcheted. I got help f***ing things up because I'm an alpha female and there are not a lot of us."

Courtney - who has a 17-year-old daughter with her late husband Kurt Cobain - admits the Nirvana frontman's suicide sent her into a spiral of self-destructive behaviour.

She added to NME magazine: "It's been 17 years since he died, we live in a culture that demands you hurry up and I spent 10 of those years completely in denial, just blistering on promiscuity and drugs."