Love spent her early years in Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, until her parents divorced in 1970.[11][22] In a custody hearing, her mother, as well as one of her father's girlfriends, testified that Hank had dosed Courtney with LSD when she was a toddler.[11][22][23] Carroll also alleged that Hank threatened to abduct his daughter and flee with her to a foreign country.[6] Though Hank denied these allegations, his custody was revoked.[6]

In 1970, Carroll relocated with Love to the rural community of Marcola, Oregon, where they lived along the Mohawk River[21] while Carroll completed her psychology degree at the University of Oregon.[1] There, Carroll remarried to schoolteacher Frank Rodríguez, who legally adopted Love.[21] Though Love was baptized a Roman Catholic,[24] her mother maintained an unorthodox home; according to Love, "There were hairy, wangly-ass hippies running around naked [doing] Gestalt therapy", and her mother raised her in a gender-free household with "no dresses, no patent leather shoes, no canopy beds, nothing".[25]

Love attended a Montessori school in Eugene, Oregon, where she struggled academically and socially.[26][27] She has said that she began seeing psychiatrists at "like, [age] three. Observational therapy. TM for tots. You name it, I've been there."[28] At age nine, a psychologist noted that she exhibited signs of autism, among them tactile defensiveness.[25][29][30][31] Love commented in 1995: "When I talk about being introverted, I was diagnosed autistic. At an early age, I would not speak. Then I simply bloomed."[28]

In 1972, Love's mother divorced Rodríguez, remarried to sportswriter David Menely, and moved the family to Nelson, New Zealand.[32] Love was enrolled at Nelson College for Girls,[33] but soon expelled for misbehavior.[34] In 1973, Carroll sent Love back to Portland, Oregon,[35] to be raised by her former stepfather and other family friends.[36][37]

At age 14, Love was arrested for shoplifting from a Portland department store[38] and remanded at Hillcrest Correctional Facility, a juvenile hall in Salem, Oregon.[27][39] While at Hillcrest, she became acquainted with records by Patti Smith, the Runaways, and the Pretenders, who later inspired her to start a band.[40] She was intermittently placed in foster care throughout late 1979 until becoming legally emancipated in 1980,[23][41] after which she remained staunchly estranged from her mother.[42]

Shortly after her emancipation, Love spent two months in Japan working as a topless dancer, but was deported after her passport was confiscated.[43] She returned to Portland and began working at the strip club Mary's Club,[44][28] adopting the surname Love to conceal her identity; she later adopted Love as her surname.[21] She worked odd jobs, including as a DJ at a gay disco.[45] Love said she lacked social skills,[46] and learned them while frequenting gay clubs and spending time with drag queens.[47] During this period, she enrolled at Portland State University, studying English and philosophy.[48][49] She later commented that, had she not found a passion for music, she would have sought a career working with children.[50]

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5799362&forum_id=2.#49439273)