But in doing so, she uprooted Courtney from the only familiar world she had.
School was a struggle. Her emotions were unregulated, her social skills underdeveloped, and her resentment growing stronger with every passing month. Eventually, she was expelled — a symbolic moment that reflected how deeply out of place she felt.
With no stable home to return to, she was eventually sent back to the United States. But the move didn’t fix anything. Her life continued to fracture.
Teenage Turmoil and a Descent Into Survival Mode
Courtney’s early teens were marked by turbulence, confusion, and emotional instability. She bounced between Oregon and foster homes. At age fourteen, she was arrested for shoplifting and placed in a juvenile correctional facility.
For many teens, this is the end of the road.
For Courtney, it was the turning point.
Inside that institution, she discovered music.
The records she listened to — Patti Smith, the Runaways, the Pretenders — awakened something fierce inside her. She saw herself in their defiance, their rawness, their rebellion. Suddenly, her pain had a language. Her anger had a sound. Her story had a path.
Music didn’t just inspire her — it saved her.
By late 1979, she was drifting through foster care again, and by 1980, she became legally emancipated at just 16 years old. It was a shocking but necessary break. She severed ties with her mother and set out to survive on her own.
