Melissa Etheridge reveals she didn't want Brad Pitt as sperm donor as he 'would want to be in their lives'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Melissa Etheridge has revealed she did not let Brad Pitt become the sperm donor for her children as she did not want someone “who wanted to be a father.”
The Grammy-winning musician, 63, recently opened up about the situation as she suggested that she needed a sperm donor who would just be content being the 'biological dad' to her children.
Thus when the need arose, Etheridge and her then-partner Julie Cypher bypassed the ‘Babylon’ star to get help from their late musician friend David Crosby, who died in 2023.
Melissa Etheridge opens up about not choosing Brad Pitt as sperm donor
During the promotion of her new documentary ‘Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken’ releasing on July 9, the ‘Ain’t It Heavy’ singer opened up about the scenario that led her to choose Crosby over Brad Pitt.
Talking to the New York Post on July 9, Etheridge shared, “He was a friend of mine a long time ago. People would say, who is Brad Pitt to you? And I’d say, ‘Well, he’s the father of my children’ or something. I would joke around.”
She continued, “When Brad Pitt was younger, it was always clear that he wanted children. He loved children. He would come over and play with my kids.”
The ‘Into The Dark’ singer had her son Beckett and daughter Bailey Jean, 27, with her former partner Julie Cypher. Beckett tragically passed away in 2021 due to opioid overuse.
Etheridge, who came out as a lesbian in 1993, welcomed two more children with her ex-partner Tammy Lynn Michaels. The former couple welcomed twins Johnnie Rose and Miller Steven, 17.
Currently, she is married to ‘Nurse Jackie’ co-creator Linda Wallem since 2014.
While Etheridge’s two elder children were born with the help of Crosby, for her younger children, she used an anonymous sperm donor.
Talking about her reluctance to making Pitt the biological father of her children, Etheridge shared with the outlet, “I just knew I didn’t want someone to be a donor that wanted to be a father, because they would want to be in their lives — I wanted to be the other parent, you know?”
She added, “And it so it just didn’t work out,” before joking that her children would often ask her why she didn’t let the ‘Troy’ actor be the sperm donor.
The songstress quipped, “And I’m like, ‘You wouldn’t have been you. What are you talking about?”
Pitt later went on to become a dad-of-six with his estranged ex-wife Angelina Jolie - Maddox, 22, Zahara, 19, Pax, 20, Shiloh, 18, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 15.
Melissa Etheridge revealed why she chose David Crosby
As the 'It Will Be Me' songstress had her reasons for not choosing Pitt, she also had her reasons for choosing Crosby as the biological father.
Last week she shared with People, "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."
Talking about her ex Julie Cypher, she continued, "So we weren't going to go to a sperm bank because she wanted them to know."
However, she added that she was different in that sense. "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.' And who am I? That sort of thing," explained the mother-of-four.
She further continued that Crosby was not only the perfect candidate but also noted that his wife Jan Dance suggested him to Etheridge.
She continued, "They had just had help having their son and they appreciated that. They wanted to pay it forward," and noted, "We're still finding kids from David Crosby out in the world. My daughter's like, 'I have another half-sister.'"
"He did not need to be [a father]. And that's what really made it clear for me, was that he was willing to say, 'Yeah, I was the biological father.' And my kids call him bio dad, so he's the biological father, but they didn't need a relationship with him," added the singer.
