Melissa Etheridge and k.d. Lang perform during The Beat Goes On Concert Benefiting LIFEbeat at Beacon Theater in New York City.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Steve Eichner\/WireImage\/Getty<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
The show should be a riot if Etheridge is as candid and engaging as she is today talking about coming out, the Hollywood closet, love, losing and grieving Beckett, her passion for music and experience of fame, and why she loves to just rock out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was another house in the Hollywood Hills above ours owned by the boss of my record company, Chris Blackwell, who rented it out,\u201d she said, remembering the halcyon \u201990s. \u201cOnce, Wesley Snipes was renting it, and Wesley was up there having a party, and we were down here having a party where it got to the point clothes were being removed. And his party got really excited looking down at our party. It was crazy. It was a great time, I just have to tell you. I had a lot of fun. That was in my twenties and thirties. I couldn\u2019t do it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did Etheridge have more intimate relationships with lang, DeGeneres, or O’Donnell? \u201cNo, k.d., Ellen, and Rosie were very much like me. We all had that aggressive power, they were more like my brothers. I was attracted to more feminine\u2014in relation to energy\u2014women.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did she have relationships with other famous women? \u201cNot that I can tell\u2026\u201d Etheridge said, before bursting into more laughter.<\/p>\n
That sounds like a \u201cYes, but I\u2019m not telling you who,\u201d this reporter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, there you go,\u201d said Etheridge, smiling.<\/p>\n
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\u201cRicky Martin was concerned because he was a sex symbol. I was like, \u2018Dude, it\u2019s obvious you\u2019re gay.\u2019 It\u2019s been wonderful to see all these people finally come into themselves. \u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2014 Melissa Etheridge<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
After Etheridge came out, she was approached for advice by a lot of other then-closeted celebrities. \u201cThey would always come and confess. I had people come to me and say, \u2018I see you being out,\u2019 and they would apologize to me because they were not out. I would say, \u2018Look, it\u2019s very personal. It\u2019s totally up to you, you don\u2019t have to explain anything to me.\u2019 There were a lot, and some have since come out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which closeted-now-out celebrities asked for her guidance back then?<\/p>\n
\u201cBarry Manilow<\/a>. Ellen, then she finally came out. Ricky Martin. Jodie Foster. Everyone would have their own reason for not coming out. \u2018Television is not going to accept a gay character,\u2019 blah blah blah. Barry was like, \u2018All my fans are women. I will lose my fan base.\u2019 I was so glad when he came out. I didn\u2019t know Ricky well back then, but he was concerned because he was a sex symbol. I was like, \u2018Dude, it\u2019s obvious you\u2019re gay.\u2019 It\u2019s been wonderful to see all these people finally come into themselves. The ones who come out do much better than the ones who don\u2019t, or didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if she knew any celebrities who remained closeted, Etheridge paused, and said sadly, \u201cYeah, ones who decided to shut that part of themselves off, who got married, who really decided not to do it. It\u2019s their choice, it\u2019s always their choice, our choice. I would never out anyone. But to me, it just solidifies and tells me how good it is to come out, because one can see the difference between their lives and those of us who have come out and our happiness. Ultimately, your fame, success, and career are not going to keep you happy when you\u2019re old.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming out is always best, says Etheridge, \u201cbecause being in your truth, whether it\u2019s being gay or whatever, is your truth. It\u2019s what you know. We have an inner spirit guiding us, always looking to joy and love. If we resist that we make ourselves sick. You will live a joyful life as long as you are connected with your spirit, your truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what I love to do\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n
Etheridge\u2019s first memory is, when aged 3, hearing the Beatles sing \u201cI Want to Hold Your Hand.\u201d She always loved music: \u201cI always found it to be a place of peace and release.\u201d Growing up in Leavenworth, Kansas, she was close to her father, John, a teacher, and less so\u2014as a child and teenager\u2014her mother, Elizabeth, a computer programmer whose work was always credited to the men who worked around her. Etheridge has written that her older sister sexually and physically abused her when she was little.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say my childhood was terribly difficult, I would say it was unemotionally stifling,\u201d Etheridge told The Daily Beast. \u201cIt was something I wanted to get out of. I had trouble with my sister, but everyone has their own situation growing up. Music was definitely the place where I got away from everything, where I could escape. It was the place that made me feel emotions, my hopes and dreams, and excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Etheridge recalled when first learning guitar aged 8, learning three particular chords. \u201cWhen I first put those chords together, I said, \u2018Wait a minute, this is a song in any kind of genre. I started making up things around that, and kept doing that. I have always felt a great desire to write since I was 11 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s a very good thing I became successful because this is all I know how to do. I don\u2019t want to do anything else. This is what I love to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2014 Melissa Etheridge<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
She laughed again, a great, throaty, raucous laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s a very good thing I became successful because this is all I know how to do. I don\u2019t want to do anything else. This is what I love to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a child, she had lots of friends. \u201cMy parents, if you ever had to ask them, would have said I was a very good child. I didn\u2019t cause any trouble. My older sister caused lots and lots of trouble, she took up all that sort of space. I wasn\u2019t incredibly academic. If I was interested in a subject, I did well in it. Geometry was like, gah<\/i>, I didn\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Melissa Etheridge and Joss Stone perform \u201cPiece of My Heart,\u201d a tribute to Janis Joplin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
L. Cohen\/WireImage for The Recording Academy\/Getty<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
Her mother \u201cwas definitely a product of before the women\u2019s movement, before women\u2019s rights. She was very smart, and went to college in the 1950s to find a husband. Well, she did, and they had kids immediately.\u201d Her mother got a job as a secretary on an army base as a civilian, \u201cwhich she loved at the same time as computers came into businesses. She was very good at programming the computers, but the guys got all the credit. She was paid half what they were paid. She got incredibly bitter about it, and she wasn\u2019t a happy person anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Etheridge turned 25, her mother retired, allowing her daughter to see a different side of her. \u201cI became very close to her. She was a completely different woman to the woman I grew up with. I didn\u2019t need the things I needed from her as a child. When you become an adult you see your parents as adults. You realize they\u2019re just human, you let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her father was a \u201cwonderful, fun, light, kind human being\u201d who had grown up very poor. His father had been injured in World War II and become an alcoholic, she says. Etheridge\u2019s father managed to get a sports scholarship, and after college became a teacher and beloved basketball and athletics coach in Leavenworth, where a ballfield is named after him.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMy father and I had a really great adventure playing music in the Midwest in the 1970s.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2014 Melissa Etheridge<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
Her father also loved Etheridge\u2019s early love of music. \u201cHe supported me when I started playing in bands and bars at 12, 13 years old. He would drive me to every rehearsal and gig. We spent a lot of time together. He made that part of his life too. That added to trouble with my mother. She didn\u2019t want me to do it. We did it anyway. My mother never wanted to come to any of my gigs. My father and I had a really great adventure playing music in the Midwest in the 1970s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her father died when Etheridge was 35, fortunately able to see that she had achieved some success. Her mother eventually came to a few of her concerts. \u201cShe was a classical music kind of person, she never got into it. She was able to say, \u2018I\u2019m proud of you, good for you.\u2019 She would always say, \u2018Well things turned out OK I guess.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Etheridge has no relationship with her sister today. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t devastating at all,\u201d she told The Daily Beast of her sister\u2019s abuse. \u201cThe confusing part was just how cruel she was to me. For a while, it kind of haunted me. I was looking for things, relationships, that were difficult. I wanted to get them to like me. For a while, it influenced me in getting into some bad relationships. Pretty soon you realize, \u2018I have got to love myself.\u2019 It was there for me to learn and I did. I definitely let what my sister did to me go a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
And she never wanted a relationship as an adult with her? \u201cAs an adult, I wished for a sister I could have a relationship with, but I don\u2019t want to have a relationship with her. We have nothing in common.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was that moment. Coming out just felt right\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n
Etheridge came out publicly in 1993, when coming out was unusual and brave, conducted in the glare of the media, and there was considerably more ignorance and ill-informed gawping. She had come out to her parents many years before at around 18, 19. \u201cMy mother got a little weird about it until I was 25 and saw I was on my own and self-sustaining, and she said, \u2018If you\u2019re happy, fine.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Her father said, \u201cWell, I don\u2019t understand it, but as long as you\u2019re happy, that\u2019s all that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Melissa Etheridge attends the 35th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 24, 1993, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
Ron Galella Collection\/Getty<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
\u201cIt was great to have that positive family base to then be able to come out publicly,\u201d Etheridge says today. \u201cBy the time I was an active gay person, I was ready to get out of Kansas. You weren\u2019t supposed to be gay back then, it was very much hidden,\u201d Etheridge recalled. \u201cThere was no infrastructure for any kind of gayness in Leavenworth back then. But of course in high school, you find the ones that have the same energy as you do. They were my friends. When I went off to college\u2014the Berklee College of Music in Boston\u00ad\u2014I met a huge gay community there.\u201d (She received an Honorary Doctor of Music Degree from Berklee in 2006.)<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, being gay was never an issue for me. I was just always, definitely attracted to women. I always knew I was gay. I didn\u2019t know what that would look like in the world, but I knew what I was and that it made me happy. When I first signed to a record company, I said, \u2018Look, I\u2019m not going to pretend I\u2019m not gay.\u2019 They told me they didn\u2019t want me to \u2018flag wave.\u2019 That\u2019s what they said to me, whatever that means.\u201d Another hearty Etheridge laugh. \u201cFour years later, I would be flag-waving.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cI had built up a considerable following playing in women\u2019s bars, gay bars, and women\u2019s music festivals. I had a fierce underground lesbian following. I thought, \u2018I have to set this straight.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2014 Melissa Etheridge<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
Etheridge says she was stuck for a while in the entertainment world\u2019s version of \u201cdon\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell. In those days the press didn\u2019t ask, and we didn\u2019t tell. It happened all over the world. It was like, \u2018OK, we\u2019re gay, and you know we\u2019re gay, but you\u2019re not going to ask us and are not going to talk about it.\u2019 But I did agree with my record label that I would never show up with a pretend boyfriend at events.\u201d<\/p>\n
She finally decided to come out of this demi-closet after an interview went awry. \u201cIt was for my Never Enough<\/i> album, and the first time I had been on the cover of this particular magazine. Just like always, I used gender-neutral pronouns for my partner all the way through. But in the writing up of the interview, the journalist changed all the pronouns to \u2018he,\u2019 and \u2018they\u2019 to my \u2018boyfriend.\u2019 I thought, \u2018Oh my God, people are going to think I have been lying.\u2019 I had built up a considerable following playing in women\u2019s bars, gay bars, and women\u2019s music festivals. I had a fierce underground lesbian following. I thought, \u2018I have to set this straight.\u2019 It was one of the factors in me coming out.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was also a time, recalled Etheridge, when gay men and lesbians were organizing to help those gay men suffering the brunt of government ignorance and inaction over AIDS, \u201clike, \u2018We\u2019re dying and they\u2019re not doing anything.\u2019\u201d Etheridge recalled meeting community leaders like Urvashi Vaid, Elizabeth Birch, and Hilary Rosen, who \u201cbless their hearts, took me in hand and little by little had me do fundraisers. They were so smart and out and clear about what needed to be done. It was in that spirit that I helped the Clinton\/Gore (presidential) campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1993, at the Triangle Ball, the first ever gay inaugural ball held when Bill Clinton was elected to his first term, Etheridge came out, creating worldwide headlines. \u201cI was surrounded by all these strong people. We had helped elect a president who spoke the words \u2018gay\u2019 and \u2018lesbian.\u2019 It was that moment. Coming out just felt right. I was going to do it anyway that year. I thought I would do it on The Arsenio Hall Show<\/em>. It felt right. Slowly it went into the papers, and soon people were constantly talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, as a major lesbian icon causing worldwide headlines, was she also having lots of fun and sex? Was it groupie central?<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t call it groupie central,\u201d Etheridge laughed. \u201cAlthough I wouldn\u2019t I say never did that! I would say until about 1991\u2014when I finally wanted to be monogamous\u2014before that, I had lots of fun. There were lots of beautiful, wonderful women I met, and I enjoyed myself very much.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe would always make sure to hold hands to say, \u2018This is my partner. Here are two beautiful, successful women hanging out with everyone else.\u2019 It was really important. \u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2014 Melissa Etheridge<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
In newspapers and magazines, Etheridge was one of the first queer celebrities to be photographed with their partners.<\/p>\n
Etheridge welcomed the flashbulbs, and the change she hopes the images heralded. \u201cIt was really something that my partners and I knew, and each time we were invited somewhere, like some sort of premiere, we would always make sure to hold hands to say, \u2018This is my partner. Here are two beautiful, successful women hanging out with everyone else.\u2019 It was really important. If you had asked me back then, I would have said that in the future I would hope this was not a big deal and that my children would not know a world where it was crazy or scandalous to be seen with a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Melissa Etheridge and Julie Cypher at Lifebeat benefit at Beacon Theater, New York, June 24, 1994.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
Steve Eichner\/Getty<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
Today, Etheridge is hopeful that, despite the anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bills in Republican-run state legislatures<\/a>, and the collective ratcheting-up of anti-LGBTQ animus exhibited by politicians and the far right, that positive progress for LGBTQ equality will continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have lived long enough to see that our society, our social path, has taken great steps forward and also the backlash of fear by people who fear anything that is different,\u201d Etheridge told The Daily Beast. \u201cPeople truly believe their unhappiness is caused by someone else\u2019s freedom. They believe that, and they\u2019ve been told that by people who want to stay in power, that it is LGBTQ people\u2019s fault that their children are in danger. It\u2019s an old thing, repeated again, to pull us back from progress\u2014sexual, racial, whatever. This whole golden idea of democracy and America and rights for all is constantly challenged.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne good thing is that it means we, as an LGBT community and as part of America and the world\u2014have integrated. We are comfortable, we are happy, we are successful. We\u2019re moving on with our lives as part of that bigger fabric\u2014and it makes some people uncomfortable. There will always be divide and conquer politics, but we don\u2019t lose our ground if we carry on pushing forward. And it isn\u2019t progress if your attitude is \u2018Gays are OK, but we draw the line at this trans thing.\u2019 You\u2019ve got to understand freedom of expression. That\u2019s what America is about. Once we stop being so afraid of that, the majority of people will see it doesn\u2019t matter and we can move on.\u201d<\/p>\n
To those who are anti-trans equality, Etheridge said, \u201cEveryone wants to shut the door behind them. Don\u2019t do this. Maybe you don\u2019t understand it, but do unto others as you would want to be done to you. Remember those people who didn\u2019t or don\u2019t understand what \u2018gay\u2019 is. Know that another person\u2019s difference is not hurting you. And you don\u2019t have to understand it, or do it, or believe it, or whatever. Just let it be, because it\u2019s part of someone else\u2019s experience and your experience is not theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhen you define yourself by what you are against, ultimately people will see you are not for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2014 Melissa Etheridge<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
Etheridge believes that \u201cshowing love,\u201d being the best person one can be, and cherishing oneself and others, are the most effective ways of resisting naysayers of all kinds.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing out is the best thing a person can do, in the family or workplace,\u201d Etheridge told The Daily Beast. \u201cWhen you are that example, it changes hearts and minds. It gets overwhelming and depressing to think that we have to fight. I know and appreciate those activists and campaigners on the frontlines fighting to change laws and so much else. But as a general population, let\u2019s show we are a loving people filled with hope and desire, loving our children and neighbors, and contributing to the world. Ultimately, you can\u2019t fight that. It speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
To those politicians, like governors Ron DeSantis in Florida<\/a> and Greg Abbott in Texas<\/a>, who seem intent on passing as many anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bills as possible, Etheridge says, \u201cYou are putting yourself in a box. I\u2019ve seen people putting themselves in this box before. When you define yourself by what you are against, ultimately people will see you are not for<\/i> anything. And there is a generation coming up behind us that thinks we are all very foolish. I have children. I meet their friends. Their generation are going to look back on this just like how we looked back on the horrible bigotry of the 1950s and 1960s. To all of those politicians, I would say that your legacy is not going to be a revered one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe taught me that I cannot save anyone else\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n
Etheridge was with Cypher for 10 years, during which time Cypher gave birth to two children, Bailey Jean and Beckett (with sperm donated by musician David Crosby), then with Tammy Lynn Michaels between 2003 and 2010 (they had twins Johnnie Rose and Miller Steven in 2006). She has been married to Wallem, an actor and writer who co-created the TV series Nurse Jackie<\/em>, since 2014.<\/p>\n
\u2018I am with the right person now because I have found myself,\u201d Etheridge told The Daily Beast. \u201cWhat people may have witnessed over the years was a woman\u2019s journey to understanding what love is. Love is not someone else fixing me. Love is not someone fixing the perceived fears and holes in me. I thought I needed someone to tell me I\u2019m OK, or someone who was beautiful to make me feel beautiful. These things took me into relationships. My journey has been to take me to a place of confidence, to say, \u2018OK, no, I just need to love myself.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Linda and I became lovers I was like, \u2018That\u2019s it, I\u2019m done. I don\u2019t need a relationship. I have my children, work, me. I\u2019m very happy.\u2019 The minute I got to that was when I looked up and saw Linda. We were both naturally attracted to each other, both successful, both enjoy happiness. That last one is the number one thing to do every day. When you have that, that\u2019s a relationship that can work.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Melissa Etheridge and Linda Wallem attend MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Aerosmith at West Hall at Los Angeles Convention Center on Jan. 24, 2020, in Los Angeles, California.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
Jeff Kravitz\/FilmMagic\/Getty<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
Having children was \u201cnot something I ever planned on,\u201d said Etheridge. \u201cI was a gay rock star and when you were gay in the 1960s and \u201970s, that meant not having children. It wasn\u2019t even an option. Then in the early \u201990s, it was like \u2018Oh, we can do this.\u2019 Both of my partners who I had children with were really into it, and I was like, \u2018Sure I can.\u2019 And then, when I had my children, oh my God, it was like, \u2018This is amazing,\u2019 the hardest thing I ever did but incredibly rewarding. Even when my son left this earth, and the choices he made, I would still not change a thing. To know that kind of love, the things he taught me about life\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Beckett\u2019s death, as a result of opioid addiction in May 2020, has inevitably had a huge effect on Etheridge and her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe taught me that I cannot save anyone else, and I am not supposed to save anyone else,\u201d Etheridge said. \u201cThe best thing I could ever do for him was stand in my own truth and my love of myself, take care of myself, and try to show him that. He never caught on to that part, but then of course the drugs had him by then.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe helps me now by knowing that I have to turn those thoughts into joy, that I can\u2019t let those thoughts bring me down.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2014 Melissa Etheridge<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
How has her experience of grief been so far?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s endless. I don\u2019t imagine I will ever stop thinking about him,\u201d Etheridge told The Daily Beast. \u201cI find myself constantly thinking about him. He helps me now by knowing that I have to turn those thoughts into joy, that I can\u2019t let those thoughts bring me down. That doesn\u2019t help. He doesn\u2019t want that, now he\u2019s in a pain-free place. I truly have a deep belief we are in a physical reality and the non-physical reality is right there with us and we are doing this together. I really feel him when thinking about him with love. That\u2019s when he is closest with me, and he teaches me to be more loving in my thoughts also.\u201d<\/p>\n
Etheridge said Beckett\u2019s addiction lasted for four years, beginning when he was 17. \u201cIt was four years of a downward spiral, and I kept thinking, \u2018We\u2019ll keep putting him into programs,\u2019 \u2018You\u2019ve got to learn this, get this.\u2019 Life was too hard for him, and when you have an easy out with drugs\u2014I can understand it. I always had a joy of life, but he never really did. When he had a snowboarding accident, it shattered his life. He couldn\u2019t do what he loved anymore. He didn\u2019t have any self-confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it was four years of watching him slowly go down. I put him in programs. I cut him off. You do everything you can think of. You think, \u2018There\u2019s something I can do, I can save him. I can show him. I can punish him into this. I can do something.\u2019 Then, finally, towards the end, I realized, \u2018I can\u2019t do anything else, I know I may get the call any day that he\u2019s dead. It\u2019s up to him. It\u2019s his life. He has to figure something out. He made these choices.\u2019 By the time he died, I wasn\u2019t surprised. I was incredibly sad. I hadn\u2019t heard from him in four days. They sent police officers to check on him, and then I was told, \u2018He\u2019s gone.\u2019<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe celebrate how funny and joyful he was. He\u2019s still with us, and we help each other not bring any kind of guilt and shame into our home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2014 Melissa Etheridge<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
\u201cYou say to yourself, \u2018If I would have done that, I should have done that.\u2019 The guilt and shame will eat you up. It was very, very stressful. It took a little while for our whole family to recover. We still are. We bring his memory in, we celebrate him. We celebrate how funny and joyful he was. He\u2019s still with us, and we help each other not bring any kind of guilt and shame into our home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Etheridge has set up a foundation aimed at helping fund research into plant-based medicines, something spurred not just by Beckett\u2019s death but by her own experience of surviving breast cancer. A \u201cheroic dose of cannabis\u201d at the time of her own illness changed her attitude towards her own \u201cjoy and health.\u201d It was also such a huge trip, it also made her think she might die, and if so \u201cdying might not be so bad. Death is just going out of this form. I don\u2019t end. My soul, all of our souls, are forever. I don\u2019t let death trip me up now. I love getting older. I don\u2019t worry about aging. I don\u2019t care. I love being in my 60s.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Melissa Etheridge performs on stage at San Diego Pride Festival 2019 on July 14, 2019, in San Diego, California.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
Daniel Knighton\/Getty<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
Cannabis remains a big part of her life. \u201cI take vitamin B pills, but that\u2019s my only medicine,\u201d Etheridge said. \u201cIt helps me sleep, it helps me create. Cannabis doesn\u2019t affect me as much as it does other people because I am a regular participant in it. I think cannabis is good for a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having a show in New York has been \u201ca dream for a long time.\u201d She yearned for fame from the beginning of her career. \u201cWhen I got my first record deal, I wanted more. Then I played in clubs, it was more, bigger theaters\u2014more. It was always \u2018more\u2019 until you get to the top of the highest mountain and think, \u2018Oh is that all this is?\u2019 Then I went on a journey on to find myself. It was like \u2018That dream has come true so now what do I do to bring me joy.\u2019 That\u2019s the journey I have been on ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n
Was it difficult having a lot of fame, and then becoming less famous?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was difficult for a few years until I got cancer,\u201d Etheridge told The Daily Beast. \u201cYou get to the top, and think, \u2018Oh, I think I want to stay here.\u2019 Then it starts to wane. You think, \u2018Oh, wait a minute. I need to stop trying to be a hit to 18-year-olds. I\u2019m getting older. I need to be true to myself and make music. I want to be legendary, so I have to live my life and create the music that will entertain and inspire people.\u2019<\/p>\n
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\u201cLegacy is very important to me. I look to my inspirations, like Bruce Springsteen. He has kept on becoming what he wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why, after cancer, I resolved that I was never going to think of \u2018Is there going to be a hit?’ I am going to create music I want to play live. I want people going to my concerts and performances to say, \u2018Oh, this is on my bucket list. To see Melissa Etheridge in concert is an experience everyone should want to experience.\u2019 Legacy is very important to me. I look to my inspirations, like Bruce Springsteen. He has kept on becoming what he wanted to be. I have made 18 albums or something. That amount of music: I want to hold on to that catalog, revere it, love it, and create what I can after it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Etheridge has worked with Springsteen, and there are many other \u201cwonderful artists\u201d she would love to work with. \u201cI always wanted to sing with Steven Tyler. I always wanted to rock out with him. Adele! Come on! People who love to sing and entertain. There are so many younger artists of color who I love, like Mickey Guyton and H.E.R. Basically, anyone who loves music I would love to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n
She really, really loves to rock out? \u201cIndeed, it\u2019s a wonderful experience and I love it,\u201d Etheridge said, laughing. Music is her all-consuming, fiercely loved occupation and passion, but when relaxing she will pick up her guitar \u201cevery now and again to keep my calluses going.\u201d Otherwise \u201cI let my family and my love of football take my time.\u201d (Naturally for a rock star raised in Leavenworth, her team is the Kansas City Chiefs.)<\/p>\n
In farewell, this reporter asked Etheridge if there was anything else she wanted to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor heaven\u2019s sakes, I think we talked about everything,\u201d Etheridge said, with a final roar of laughter.<\/p>\n