Courtney Love explains affair with Alan Partridge

Rock chick Courtney Love (pictured) has enjoyed numerous relationships since the death of her husband, Kurt Cobain, in 1994. Arguably the most unlikely of these was with Steve Coogan, creator of the nerdy chatshow host Alan Partridge. Indeed, when she made their tryst public three years ago and revealed that they had had unprotected sex and that she was pregnant with the comic's baby, Love is alleged to have told a friend: "What does it make me look like that I have slept with Alan Partridge? Given the A-grade stars I've dated it's embarrassing. I mean... Alan Partridge!"

Now Love, 44, has provided the world with an explanation for this lapse of judgment. In the new edition of Elle magazine she says: "I've seen [the film] 24 Hour Party People and my theory on why the whole thing happened is that I had a kind of daddy crush on Tony Wilson [the late music impresario on whom the movie was based]. I transferred [this] to Coogan because he plays Wilson [in the film]."

In the interview, Love, who claims she has finally beaten her dependency on crack cocaine and alcohol, reveals how she has sought to atone for her former wild girl past. "Let me tell you a story," she says. "On Sofia Coppola's 16th birthday, way back in 1987, I stole a lip gloss from her Sistine Chapel of a bedroom.

"Years later, I left a Chanel lip gloss in the reception of the Mercer Hotel for her. You know why? I believe that you've got to fix your karma." All's well that ends well.