In 2011, Elden did an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon and said he does not receive royalties nor did anyone sign a model release. While in public, he remembers thinking: ”’Man, everybody at this baseball game has probably seen my little baby penis,’ I feel like I got part of my human rights revoked.” In the same interview, Elden expresses frustration for not being properly compensated for being an integral part of Nirvana’s image and music iconography as a whole, and revealed he was exploring legal actions against Geffen Records. It’s pretty difficult-you feel like you’re famous for nothing, but you didn’t really do anything but their album.” I just woke up already being a part of this huge project. I was trying to reach out to these people.

In 2016, Elden did an interview with TIME Magazine where he told the magazine, “I got a little upset for a bit. In the years since the photo was taken, Elden has had conflicting feelings on being known as the “Nirvana baby.” He had previously made headlines for recreating the photo as an adult (with swim trunks), and he even has “Nevermind” tattooed on his chest. Instead, Geffen sent a photographer to take photos at a pool for babies, eventually settling on Elden, whose parents were friends of the photographer. The stock footage of underwater births were too graphic, and images of swimming babies were too expensive.

The story goes: Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain conceived the idea after watching a program on underwater births. 24), Elden filed a lawsuit to the Los Angeles federal court against the surviving members of Nirvana, alleging that the photo constitutes child pornography and both he and his parents did not consent to his likeness being used.

A nude portrait of baby Elden swimming after a dollar has become an iconic image in music, gracing the cover of Nirvana’s groundbreaking 1991 album Nevermind. You may know Spencer Elden, or rather, you know him as a baby.

Nirvana nevermind cover back