Melissa Etheridge Looks Back on Emotional Memories with Late Son Beckett: 'Sweet, Sensitive Soul'

The singer’s son died of causes related to opiate addiction on May 13, 2020, at the age of 21

Melissa Etheridge reflects on a difficult moment in her past.

The musician, 62, appeared in this week’s episode Who is talking to Chris Wallace? on MAX, where she spoke with host Chris Wallace about her late son Beckett, who died in 2020 at the age of 21 from causes related to opioid addiction. “What do you want to tell us about Beckett?” Wallace asked.

“I would tell you that he was a special, just a dear soul … a sensitive, sensitive soul, who found working with people very difficult,” she said. “And his one love that he found, one happiness that he found in his life was snowboarding.”

“And it was a snowboarding accident where he broke his ankle when he was 17-18 when he started Vicodin and once you kind of numb the pain and it numbs all the pain in you and then you get chemically hooked, it’s almost impossible. ”

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Melissa Etheridge and late son Beckett in October 2011 Melissa Etheridge and Beckett Melissa Etheridge says she learned about her ‘capacity for love’ after son Beckett’s death

Wallace then asked Etheridge to walk him through the emotions of her last few years with her son.

“You can’t go save them, you can’t run and save them every other week while they make that bad decision, at the end of the day you have to let the person make the decision,” Etheridge said. “Whatever happened, so when the call came in, I was like, ‘OK, here it is.’

“I mean, it’s never what you think, but it was a relief because she’s not in pain anymore. She doesn’t feel that pain. And now I can only love him because of what I know about his soul, his beautiful soul.”

Beckett died of causes related to opioid addiction on May 13, 2020. Etheridge shares a son with ex Julie Cypher, as well as a daughter Bailey, 26. Etheridge is also mother to twins Johnnie Rose and Miller Steven, 17, with ex Tammy Lynn Michaels .

Melissa Etheridge performs at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in May 2023.

Erika Goldring/Getty Images

In November, Etheridge spoke about how her beliefs about love helped her cope with the death of her son Beckett.

“When I lost my son, I learned my capacity for love,” Etheridge said in one episode Creating space with Hod Kotba podcast.

“Not only do I love him and miss him and be OK, but to love myself enough not to fall into the great depression, guilt and shame that there are in many families who lose loved ones to opioid addiction, the shame is just too much,” she continued.

“It’s huge. So I had to believe that there’s an excess of love in everything. Everything is love.”

The musician said that dealing with her sadness is “practice”.

“There can be days when the shadow falls on me. And I catch myself thinking, ‘Oh, what if? What if I did this? What if I had just done that?’ And that doesn’t serve me and causes me pain,” she explained.

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, contact the SAMHSA Addiction Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education