Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Melissa Etheridge is determined to “keep living” following the death of her son.
The 65-year-old singer and her ex-partner Julie Cypher’s son Beckett – who was fathered by David Crosby – died from complications connected to opioid addiction in 2020 at the age of 21, and Melissa has learned to cope with the tragedy by finding ways to distract herself at times when they would have usually chatted.
Melissa told Us Weekly magazine: “It took a while.
“I just sat down and just really let it happen. It’s like, ‘OK, how do I want to? Well, since I can’t call you anymore’ — because we used to, he texted me every day, used to call me, text me. I spoke to him every day.
“That’s when I feel the most the most, so that’s where I wanted to say, well, since I can’t call you anymore, I can’t do it, I’m going to go garden. I’m going to take a drive. I’m going to do these things. I’m going to keep living, even though you know I have that.”
The Come to my Window singer previously urged other parents who have dealt with such a tragedy that their life can go on despite the “guilt” they may feel.
She told Good Morning America: “I hope people will know that they’re not alone and I have seen and know about many parents who take on just a huge guilt and shame when one of their children becomes addicted and has this problem, and dies. More and more, this is happening and it can happen in any family. The guilt and the shame that so many take on…all this stuff can really stop your own life. I know Beckett doesn’t want me to stop my life.
And Melissa remains certain that one day she will be reunited with the spirit of her son.
She added: “I believe that there’s a spirit that we all are that we’re all connected to and I will see him again, and that Beckett wants me to be happy.”
The Into the Dark hitmaker wanted her memoir Talking to My Angels to address how she had coped with Beckett’s struggles.
She said: “He died in 2020 at the beginning of COVID and I knew that as time went on, I would need to answer the questions. I’ve never run away from truth or life as it has happened so I thought this might be a good time to do a book on how I’ve handled addiction in the family, a death from the addiction in the family, and how we all got through that.”
