Beckett Cypher, Melissa Etheridge's son with her former partner Julie Cypher, has died of causes related to opioid addiction, the singer says in a statement. He was 21.
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"Today I joined the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones to opioid addiction," she wrote.
"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.
"My heart is broken," she continued. "I am grateful for those who have reached out with condolences and I feel their love and sincere grief. 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.
"I will sing again, soon. It has always healed me," she concluded, referencing the fact that the news was first announced on Wednesday afternoon in the form of a Twitter notification that the day's "Concert From Home" was cancelled.
While Beckett, whose biological father is singer David Crosby, had a high media profile as an infant and toddler, in recent years he and his siblings were photographed relatively rarely.
Pioneers among celebrity same-sex parents, Etheridge, 58, and filmmaker Cypher had two children together during their partnership: a daughter, Bailey, born in 1997 and Beckett the following year. The children were born to Cypher via artificial insemination; while the biological father initially was not disclosed, in January of 2000 the couple revealed it to be Crosby.
The young family appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone with Crosby and his wife, Jan Dance, later that year, and also in a groundbreaking interview with Charlie Rose on "60 Minutes."
In it, they essentially explained to America their family arrangements and how the children might grow up with same-sex parents.
"I do not believe that my children will be wanting in any way because they didn't have a father in the home every single day," Etheridge said. "What they have in the home is two loving parents. I think that puts them ahead of the game."
She and Cypher split up later that year, although they moved into back-to-back houses to facilitate co-parenting.
Etheridge revealed in 2016 that she and Cypher had considered their close friend, actor Brad Pitt, to become the biological father of their children, but reconsidered when they saw how much he wanted his own family.
Etheridge is also mother to twins, son Miller and daughter Johnnie, from her relationship with Tammy Lynn Michaels. Both are 13.
Australian Associated Press