Melissa Etheridge Shares the Secret to Her Marriage Success, Jokes Having the Same Birthday as Her Wife 'Helps' (Exclusive)

Few days are more special to Melissa Etheridge than May 29, 1961 — not only is it her birthday, but it’s also the day her wife, Linda Wallem, was born.

“I can tell you it helps. It helps a lot,” Etheridge, 63, jokes to PEOPLE in this week’s issue of a shared birthday with her partner. “We’re Geminis, so we just think we’re the coolest. We’re just having a lot of fun.”

Although the Grammy-winning singer and Wallem, a TV producer, celebrated their 10th anniversary in May, finding their happily ever after has been a difficult journey for the star, who will release her documentaries on Tuesday, July 9 Melissa Etheridge: I’m not broken on Paramount+.

“[Linda and I are] so supportive of each other. It’s the best relationship I’ve ever had in my entire life,” says Etheridge. “After my second breakup, I had four kids and I said, ‘I’m obviously terrible at choosing partners. I won’t do it again.’”

The star split from wife Tammy Lynn Michaels in 2010 after seven years together and two children, twins Johnnie and Miller (17). Etheridge is also mother to daughter Bailey, 27, and son Beckett, who died in 2020 aged 21, with ex-partner Julie Cypher.

Melissa Etheridge’s daughter Bailey is engaged: ‘The luckiest girl in the world’

Melissa Etheridge in May 2023.

Erika Goldring/Getty Images

But she and Wallem had a solid foundation and a nearly decade-long friendship to lean on. When they both found themselves single at the same time, Etheridge feared that they would ruin their relationship with an affair.

Still, she invited Wallem to live in her house, and he did for months Sister Jackie the co-creator helped the singer take the children to school and make them lunch. Soon the two realized that they were actually living as a married couple.

“I had a lot of fun with her as a person. We were able to slowly step into it and it was so perfect,” Etheridge says now. “Life is not just a second chance – life is always an opportunity. There is no, “Well, that’s just the way it is.” We can always make a different choice.”

Melissa Etheridge and Linda Wallem in ‘Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken’.

James Moes/Paramount+

Melissa Etheridge says she wants to ‘uplift people’ in trailer for new prison concert docu-series

The love affair between Etheridge and Wallem is highlighted in the star’s new docu-series, as Wallem is seen in a sweet moment listening intently as Etheridge plays the music he’s working on. Later, Etheridge performs a song for female inmates at the Topeka Correctional Facility in an emotional moment.

“It was such a great experience and I learned so much,” Etheridge says of making the documentaries. “I can’t wait for the world to see it”

For more on Melissa Etheridge, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.

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Source: HIS Education