When Melissa Etheridge and her then-partner Julie Cypher revealed in 2000 that the father of their two children was legendary rocker David Crosby, it made headlines. But Melissa tells People that she and Cypher weren’t the only couple for whom Crosby served as a sperm donor.
At the suggestion of his wife, Jan, Crosby — who at the time had four children of his own — fathered Melissa and Julie’s kids Bailey, 27, and Beckett, who died of an overdose in 2020.
Melissa tells People of David and Jan, “They had just had help having their son [Django] and they appreciated that. They wanted to pay it forward.” And, says Melissa, they continued to help other couples.
“We’re still finding kids from David Crosby out in the world,” she says. “My daughter’s like, ‘I have another half-sister.'”
As for why Melissa and Julie didn’t use an anonymous donor, she explains, “The situation was special with [Julie] because she had been adopted and she wanted her children to know who their biological father was. So we weren’t going to go to a sperm bank because she wanted them to know.”
However, Melissa says she didn’t want someone who “wanted to be a father” to the children, so Crosby was “perfect.”
“He did not need to be [a father] [to them]. And that’s what really made it clear for me, was that he was willing to say, ‘Yeah, I was the biological father,'” Melissa says. “And my kids call him bio dad, so he’s the biological father, but they didn’t need a relationship with him.”
She says that her relationship with Crosby, who died in 2023, “really taught me about generosity.” When he died, she wrote on Instagram, “He gave me the gift of family.”
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