Annik Honore, the girlfriend of tragic JOY DIVISION frontman Ian Curtis, has died after a long illness, according to French reports.

Curtis' former bandmate Peter Hook also announced the sad news during a concert in Nottingham, England on Thursday night (03Jul14).

Honore, 56, was said to be the woman who inspired Joy Division's seminal song Love Will Tear Us Apart.

She always maintained her romance with the British singer was "childish" and "platonic", insisting Curtis never cheated on his wife Deborah with her.

Ian Curtis committed suicide in May, 1980 at the age of 23.