Nineties singer Melissa Etheridge, 62, has opened up about how performing has helped her heal from losing her 21-year-old son Beckett to addiction three years ago.
Speaking to Page Six, Etheridge candidly shared her new Broadway show is “healing” her in the aftermath of her son’s death in 2020 from an opioid addiction.
“It’s healing every day,” she told the outlet on the show’s opening night on September 28.
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Etheridge is currently performing on Broadway in My Window. The autobiographical show, which opened on September 28, is about the singer’s struggle with cancer and grief over her son’s death.
“Every night I do this, I heal a little bit more because I’m talking about how my son would want me happy and I can believe that every night,” she told Page Six.
The Come to My Window singer shared son Beckett Cypher with her former partner Julie Cypher, who she split from in 2000.
The Broadway star previously revealed she found singing ‘healing’ when she released the social media statement in May 2021 that her son had died.
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“My heart is broken,” she said at the time.
“I am grateful for those who have reached out with condolences and I feel their love and sincere grief,” Etheridge continued.
“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.”
The performer then assured that she would “sing again, soon.”
“It has always healed me,” she admitted.
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In September 2020, Etheridge opened up about her son’s death, revealing that her family have “predispositions” to addiction.
Speaking on the Tamron Hall Show, the mother-of-four said that genetics might have played a part in Beckett’s opioid addiction, which he struggled with for four years.
Beckett’s biological father David Crosby had battled drug and alcohol abuse in the past.
“I didn’t want to blame genetics. I know we have predispositions,” Etheridge said.
“So the genes are there, but the choices then are the individual’s to make and Beckett just, kind of, made the choices that made it harder and harder for him.”
Following Beckett’s tragic death, the singer opened The Etheridge Foundation in honour of her son to help raise awareness and research into opioid addiction.
“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,” she told Today With Hoda & Jenna in September 2020.
If you, or someone you know, would like to talk to someone confidentially about addiction, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit Reach Out. In an emergency, call 000.