Melissa Etheridge's 4 Children: All About Bailey, Beckett, Johnnie and Miller

Mar. 15, 2025

Melissa Etheridge with her son Beckett and her daughter Bailey during her Walk of Fame ceremony on September 27, 201.Photo:CHRIS DELMAS/AFP/Getty

CHRIS DELMAS/AFP/Getty

MusicianMelissa Etheridgehas been a trailblazer throughout her career, not just for her signature blues-infused rock, but for her activism for gay rights and the way she’s raising her blended family.

She welcomed daughterBailey Jeanand sonBeckettwith ex Julie Cypher in the late ’90s. In 2006, she and her then-partner Tammy Lynn Michaels had twins Johnnie Rose and Miller Steven. The singer has been married to wifeLinda Wallemsince 2014.

“My children are my priority,” Etheridge told PEOPLE in 2017. “I love my children. They are four of the most amazing human beings on earth. I live a very blessed life.”

Etheridge lost her eldest son Beckett, then 21, to an opioid overdose in 2020. In 2023, she published a book,Talking to My Angels,about grappling with that loss and her struggle to“choose love” and move forward.

“I can look at my son’s death as a great loss, or I can look at it as his time here was a great time of living and learning,” she told PEOPLE in September 2023. “He’s taught me so much, and I find great comfort in him in the non-physical.”

“I’ve experienced enough that I knew I had always lived very truthfully, and I always told people what was going on with me, fromcoming outto cancer, and just really felt a great power in being upfront and open,” the musician added. “I knew that this was not an exception, that this was something I wanted to share with those who wanted to know just how I walked through my son’s death, and how I still, every day, keep a bright outlook. It’s not easy.”

Keep reading for everything to know about Melissa Etheridge’s four children.

Bailey Jean Cypheridge, 28

Bailey Cypheridge.Bailey Cypheridge Instagram

Bailey Cypheridge Instagram

“He was always a really cool presence in my life, even if we never meant to have that kind of parent-child relationship. He was friends with my parents, he was their donor for me. I thought it was cool growing up, knowing who he was,” Bailey told PEOPLE at the time.

Melissa Etheridge and Bailey Cypheridge.Bailey Cypheridge Instagram

In May 2023, Bailey opened up to PEOPLE about living with the losses of her brother and biological father. “I try to listen for what their reaction might be in their head if I’m trying to make an important decision,” she said, adding that “loss and grief are really hard.”

“I don’t think anyone has a clear-cut way to deal with it,” Bailey added. “I try to focus on the good memories, try to know that feeling that loss so deeply means that you loved something so deeply.”

Bailey appeared on the showFamily Legacyabout people who grew up as the children of famous musicians. “As a kid, I knew I had two parents that loved me and wanted me, and that’s a lot more than a lot of people can say,” she told PEOPLE. “I actually remember, when I was in kindergarten, I was bragging about having two moms because I thought that was a good thing.I still think it’s the coolest thing.”

“As I grew up, it meant more to me how much my parents were trailblazers and how hard it must have been for them at the time. For my mom to stay true to herself and to stay out even when so many people were telling her she’d have a more successful career if you say in the closet,” she added. “I think it’s really brave that that was just never a question for my mom. It means a lot more to me, now, looking back as an adult because I’m also a queer adult, so I can look at that and think that they really led the way for so many people, including me.”

She takes that inspiration into her career as well. Aftergraduating from Columbia Universityand the London School of Business, according to herLinkedIn, Bailey works at GLAAD as a project lead.

In June 2024, Baileyannounced her engagementto partner Jocelyn Simone. “I am the luckiest girl in the world. Yours forever,” she wrote on Instagram.

Beckett Cypheridge

Melissa Etheridge and Beckett

Etheridge’s second child and first son, Beckett was born on Nov. 18, 1998. After his birth, Etheridge spoke toParentsabout raising small children. “There’s nothing like taking the responsibility or creating the responsibility ofbringing a human being into this worldand helping it in its first years,” she said. “It doesn’t matter the equation that gets you there or what you are to that person. It doesn’t matter at all. It is the bond between you and the child.”

In 2008, Etheridge talked toThe Daily Beastabout how she wasn’t able to adopt children because the state of Californiarefused to allow adoptions to same-sex couples. “He, being 9 years old and very proud of his reading skills, read ‘Changes California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry,’ ” she said. “He looked at me, very matter-of-factly and said, ‘Wow, that’s lame.’ "

In 2016, when he was 17, Beckett wastraining to become a professional snowboarderin Colorado when he broke his ankle and subsequently developed an addiction to the painkillers he was prescribed in recovery. “It gave him a whole lot of pain. It kept him from being a professional snowboarder,” Etheridge told PEOPLE in 2021. “He was on that path, and he got lost then — because if he wasn’t going to do that, what was he going to do?”

Eventually, he began using heroin and fentanyl. Etheridge got him into rehab, but he left at 18. “The drug abuse really turned him into someone I didn’t know,” she said. “He was quicker to anger or mistrust. He stole money from me. The last couple of weeks, he was paranoid, and all of a sudden he was involved with guns. It’s sad because it’s not who he was before that.”

Beckett Cypheridge and Bailey Cypheridge.Bailey Cypheridge Instagram

Two months after Beckett’s death, Etheridge spoke toGood Morning Americaaboutcoping with the loss through music. “There’s something about singing, something about opening the soul, it’s got me through everything,” she said. “So many people throughout my life said, ‘Your music got me through this, your music got me through that.’ And I now am using my music to get me through this.”

In response to his death,Etheridge started The Etheridge Foundation, which researches the causes and treatments of opioid addiction. “This is an epidemic. We lose over 150,000 people a year to opioid addiction,” she said onToday with Hoda and Jennain September 2020. “One thing that helped me heal was starting The Etheridge Foundation. We’re just starting it and it’s rolling out and it is a foundation to research alternatives. To get off of this track of pharmaceuticals for pain. It’s research to understand addiction.”

Johnnie Rose and Miller Steven Etheridge, 18

Johnnie Rose Etheridge and Steven Etheridge as young children.Bailey Cypheridge Instagram

Melissa welcomed fraternal twins Johnnie and Miller with then-partner Michaels on Oct. 17, 2006. Michaels carried the children, who were conceived through an anonymous donor.

When the twins were 11 months old, Etheridge talked to PEOPLE about their unique bond. “They have their own language, they are more content to be with each other,” she said. “With twins, it’s like you’re in their life.”

Still, Johnnie and Miller showed distinct personalities early on. “You can put the same thing in front of both of [the twins] and they will do completely different things,” she added. “He will see if he can break it, if he can throw it, and she is going to contemplate it, see how she can manipulate it.”

The twins' parents split in 2010, and Etheridge went on to wed her now-wife Wallem. While their childhood has been kept largely out of the spotlight, the twins have occasionally appeared on older sister Bailey’s Instagram account.

“Very merry sisters,” Bailey captioned of photo of her and Johnnie Rosevacationing in Hawaiiin 2019.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.

source: people.com