Dave Grohl Cheating and Child Out of Wedlock Scandal

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Overview

Dave Grohl Cheating and Child Out of Wedlock Scandal refers to a 2024 scandal centered on Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl cheating on his wife with another woman and having a baby daughter out of wedlock. Grohl posted a statement to his Instagram account @davestruestories in mid-September 2024, seemingly to break the story before news outlets and tabloids began covering it. The controversy was discussed en masse on Twitter / X, Reddit and TikTok, among other social platforms, where Dave Grohl memes and reactions spread. Many of the memes and jokes about the story included references to lyrics from the Foo Fighters, such as "there goes my hero" and "I've got another confession to make."

Background

Dave Grohl married Jordyn Blum in 2003. The couple had three daughters across two decades.^[1]

On September 10th, 2024, Grohl posted to his Instagram^[2] account @davestruestories. The post was a written statement about the birth of his new daughter born out of wedlock, writing in full:

I've recently become the father of a new baby daughter, born outside of my marriage. I plan to be a loving and supportive parent to her. I love my wife and my children, and I am doing everything I can to regain their trust and earn their forgiveness. We're grateful for your consideration toward all the children involved, as we move forward together.

In a day, the post amassed significant press coverage and viral engagement, the exact number unknown as Grohl hid the number of likes and restricted comments (shown below).

Online Reactions

Discourse about Dave Grohl's announcement spread outside of Instagram because the comments on the post were restricted. Much of the discussions transpired on Twitter / X, evident in a post shared by X^[3] user @elliot_mitchell on September 10th, 2024, who screenshotted Grohl's post and joked, "Dave Grohl missed a trick not opening this statement with 'I've got another confession to make,'" gaining over 57,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Humorous reactions continued to surface that day, like one tweet shared by X^[4] user @sonofpluto_ on September 10th, who posted a TikTok video called "divorced dad core" and captioned it, "dave grohl in 6 months," receiving over 24,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Fans of Grohl also expressed outrage and betrayal in viral posts, such as X^[5] user @BlaisinSquad on September 10th, who wrote, "have never felt deeper parasocial betrayal than dave grohl cheating on his wife," receiving over 34,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Similar disappointed reactions surfaced on other social platforms, like one video shared by TikToker^[6] @theinkyshrews on September 10th, 2024, showing Ewan McGregor's character in the movie Trainspotting looking dejected with text reading, "literally me after dave grohl just admitted to cheating on his wife after twenty years of marriage and now has a new baby," gaining over 237,500 plays and 49,200 likes in a day (shown below).

Viral posts about Grohl's scandal also surfaced on Reddit where discourse ensued. On September 10th, 2024, Redditor^[7] daily_mirror's post on /r/Music gained over 28,000 upvotes in a day and Redditor^[8] DintyMac's post on /r/Wellthatsucks received over 34,000 upvotes in a day.

In the comment sections of each post, Redditors levied reactions to the news. For instance, on September 10th, Redditor^[9] ridthyevil left a comment on the /r/Music post, reading, "He cheated on his first wife as well, so while it’s unfortunate, it’s not surprising," gaining over 9,200 upvotes in a day (shown below).

The Redditor was referencing Grohl's first marriage with Jennifer Youngblood, which started in 1994 and ended in divorce in 1997.^[10]