Apparently singer Melissa Etheridge wasn’t the only one who had David Crosby’s help in starting a family.
In a People interview published online Tuesday, Etheridge opened up about her decision to use the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer as a sperm donor for two of her children. It turns out that Crosby donated his sperm to other couples over the years too, she said.
“We’re still finding kids from David Crosby out in the world,” Etheridge explained. “My daughter’s like, ‘I have another half-sister.’”
Crosby, who died in 2023 at age 81, donated sperm to Etheridge and her then-partner, Julie Cypher, decades ago. With his help, Etheridge and Cypher became parents to a daughter, Bailey Cypheridge, and a son, Beckett Cypher.
“The situation was special with my partner at the time because she had been adopted and she wanted her children to know who their biological father was,” Etheridge told People. “So we weren’t going to go to a sperm bank because she wanted them to know.”
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Etheridge thought that Crosby was “perfect,” adding that he was already a dad to his own children and therefore wouldn’t seek out a close relationship with her kids.
“To me, I didn’t want someone who wanted to be a father… I didn’t want all of a sudden my children to have…‘Oh, there’s dad,’” Etheridge said. “And who am I? That sort of thing.”
Cypheridge, now 27, announced her engagement to partner Jocelyn Simone last month. Beckett Cypher died in 2020 following an opioid addiction. He was 21.
Etheridge ― who is also mom to 17-year-old twins with ex Tammy Lynn Michaels ― told People that her experience with Crosby “really taught me about generosity.”
The two-time Grammy winner will delve further into her life as both a mother and a musician in a new Paramount+ docuseries, “Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken,” which is due out next week. She returns to the concert stage Wednesday in Avon, Colorado.