Courtney Love flipped out at the maze-like McKittrick Hotel, home of atmospheric, interactive play “Sleep No More,” Sunday night and had to flee for the exit, spies say.
The venue debuted its latest “Sleep No More”-like creation, a “Sunday salon” series called “The Forgotten,” which it launched in conjunction with a reading of Jay McInerney’s new short story, “Solace.”
Sources said Love was scheduled to read the McInerney tale at the bash but dropped out and was replaced by Piper Perabo. The rocker became the center of attention anyway.
Along with guests Brooke Shields, painter Will Cotton, Paul Haggis and Candace Bushnell, Love went on a tour of “Forgotten” — which spies said was inspired by McInerney’s story and began with a walk “down a long hallway” and proceeded into “different rooms with nearly identical blond models in pink nighties” who were “taking pills, writhing on a couch or smoking cigarettes.”
One source told us, “You’d turn a corner and suddenly there’d be another girl up against the wall. Walking through, Courtney started saying, ‘Get me out of here. I have to get out of here!’ ”
Another spy relates: “She bolted for the exit, albeit the wrong one, mid-performance which did nothing to calm her anxiety. All these models acting like pill-crazed lunatics then came out of character to console her. She felt trapped and claustrophobic.”
Love was then seen exiting for a waiting car at about 9 p.m. The night, put on by Booktrack, went on to feature a talk between McInerney and author Christopher Bollen and a musical performance by Marc Scibilia.
Love told us: “I came in and had to go uptown to meet my boyfriend. I swear I didn’t say or do anything, I was in a hurry to get uptown. I did zero, I turned up to be supportive, had a water and left. This is nonsense.” Asked who her new boyfriend is, she said, “He isn’t public — un-Googleable.”