Melissa Etheridge Mourns David Crosby After His Death: ‘He Gave Me The Gift’ Of 2 Kids
David Crosby is the biological father of Melissa Etheridge’s two children she shares with her ex, Julie Cypher.
Musician Melissa Etheridge has broken her silence on David Crosby‘s death. “I am grieving the loss of my friend Beckett and Bailey’s biological father, David,” she wrote in an Instagram post (seen here) on the evening of Jan. 19. “He gave me the gift of family. I will forever be grateful to him, Django, and Jan. His music and legacy will inspire many generations to come. A true treasure.”
Melissa, 61, and the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash founder, who died at the age of 81 on Jan. 19, were more than just friends, as she mentioned: David was Melissa and her then-partner Julie Cypher‘s sperm donor and the biological father of their two kids, Bailey and Beckett. Melissa revealed the identity of her children’s father in a head-turning interview with Rolling Stone in 2000. “We just got so tired of this secret. It wears you out. And keeping this big secret goes against how [Julie and I] are choosing to live our lives — very openly,” she explained to the publication (via MTV). She also said it was Julie’s idea to ask David to help them with their parenthood journey.
Unfortunately, Beckett died unexpectedly in 2020 at the age of 21 due to a drug overdose. “Today I joined the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones to opioid addiction,” the singer-songwriter tweeted on May 13, 2020. “My son Beckett, who was just 21, struggled to overcome his addiction and finally succumbed to it today. He will be missed by those who loved him, his family and friends.”
— Melissa Etheridge (@metheridge) May 14, 2020
“My heart is broken,” she continued. “We struggle with what else we could have done to save him, and in the end we know he is out of the pain now.”
Although David was not involved in Beckett’s daily life, he hit back at a Twitter user who claimed he “played no other part” in Beckett’s life other than being a donor, per Entertainment Tonight. “Not true,” the “Eight Miles High” hitmaker responded to the since-deleted tweet.
In an Oct. 2022 interview, Melissa, who also has a son and a daughter from her relationship with Tammy Lynn Michaels, said she refuses to feel shame from her son’s death. “We can all choose every day, whether it’s love or fear, and my son made his choices and I did the best I could as a mom and I’m not going to take any guilt or shame. He wouldn’t want me to stop and ruin my life because of his choices,” she told Page Six.
In addition to his daughter with Melissa, David is survived by his son, Django, whom he shared with his wife Jan Dance, and a son, James Raymond, and two daughters, Erika and Donovan, he had from previous relationships.