Just as a sobbing and sober Courtney Love was cleared of all pending drug and assault charges in L.A. Superior Court yesterday, galleys of a book circulated saying Kurt Cobain had wanted to divorce her.


Everett True, an old friend of the Nirvana front man, writes in his upcoming book, "Nirvana: The Biography," that the first time they met, Courtney saw Cobain and "yelped, 'You're Kurt Cobain and you're an a--.'?" She then punched him in the stomach.


True interviewed the couple's manny, Michael (Cali) DeWitt, who was charged with watching their daughter, Frances Bean. DeWitt recalls that on the day Nirvana shot the "Heart-Shaped Box" video, a huge fight escalated between Love and Cobain and "in the classic Kurt way of saying f- you, he put a cigarette out in the middle of his forehead. If you watch the video, there's a lot of makeup on his forehead because it was a really bad scab.'?"


True adds that, soon after, Cobain "phoned Courtney, got into a fight, and immediately called his lawyer, Rosemary Carroll, to tell her he wanted a divorce."


Carroll tells True, "Did he ever say that to me? Yes, he did, but I don't know how serious he was."


DeWitt also describes to True in disturbing detail Cobain's first suicide attempt, which came after Courtney rebuffed Kurt's romantic advances on their reunion following Nirvana's European tour. He said: "Our rooms were connected and I ran in there and he was on the floor, dressed, with his eyes open, blood coming out of his nose." True follows up with the details that Cobain "was fully dressed, with $1,000 in his pocket and a three-page note in his hand" and that 60 Rohypnol pills were reportedly pumped from his stomach that night. Says DeWitt, "It was one of those things like, Was it or wasn't it?"


Yesterday, L.A. Superior Court Judge Rand Rubin explained his decision to Love - who was dressed in a conservative suit like Courtroom Barbie - saying, "You've shown to me you are interested in a much less destructive lifestyle."