How Did Beckett Cypher Die? New Details On The Tragic Death Of Melissa Etheridge's Son At Just 21 Years Old
Rest in peace, Beckett Cypher.
Getty Beckett Cypher was one of two children conceived in the partnership between groundbreaking singer Melissa Etheridge and her ex-partner, Julie Cypher. At the time, he and his older sister, Bailey, made the cover of Rolling Stone alongside their two moms, and their biological father, David Crosby (famously of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young).
Tragically, however, Cypher has died today at the age of 21.
How did Beckett Cypher, Melissa Etheridge's son die? Of an opioid overdose.
Let's look at what we know about this terrible tragedy.
Etheridge revealed that Beckett Cypher died of an opioid overdose.
Shortly after Etheridge revealed that her son passed away, she issued a statement on Twitter confirming that Beckett Cypher succumbed to opioid addiction. Check out her statement below.
— Melissa Etheridge (@metheridge) May 14, 2020
His biological father admitted that he wasn't involved in Cypher's life.
David Crosby admitted that he only provided the genetic material for Etheridge and Julie Cypher to have Bailey and Beckett Cypher. He wasn't involved in their lives in any other way. "I didn’t parent Bailey and Beckett, the two with Melissa [Etheridge and her ex-partner Julie Cypher], but I do love them. Beckett’s somewhere in Colorado and Bailey just graduated from NYU today. They all apparently learned from my mistakes, because none of them are interested in hard drugs. I think they saw what happened and have avoided it, which certainly is a wonderful thing," he said last year.
Brad Pitt was allegedly initially going to be Cypher's sperm donor.
Before Crosby agreed to donate his genetic material, Etheridge and Julie Cypher had approached Brad Pitt to donate his sperm. Cypher and his sister reportedly wished that they'd received half their genetic material from the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star. Etheridge also said that the reason she and Julie Cypher decided to go with Crosby as the donor was because Pitt was, and remains, a close family friend and bearing his children would have been "weird and complicated."
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Etheridge shared very little about Cypher's life while he was alive.
The most anyone really knew about Cypher was what Crosby disclosed (that he was living in Colorado). Etheridge shared very little about Cypher's life when he was alive.
But she did say that her children were "lovely and gorgeous."
Etheridge would often speak of Crosby fondly, and said that she ultimately decided to go with Crosby as the donor over other possibilities because Crosby already had children, and Crosby wanted to help Etheridge and Julie Cypher have children, as well. What's more, Etheridge said that Crosby's son, Django (who is now an adult), was "lovely and gorgeous," and she knew that the children Crosby would provide her and Julie Cypher would also be "lovely and gorgeous, anyway."
No other details about funeral arrangements and other matters have been made public.
As of this writing, no other details about funeral arrangements and other matters for Beckett Cypher have been made public. In addition to being survived by Etheridge and Julie Cypher, he is survived by his older sister Bailey and his half-siblings Johnnie Rose and Miller Stephen (whom Etheridge shares with her current wife, Linda).
Our thoughts are with Beckett Cypher's family during this difficult time.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, publicist, and photographer whose work has appeared in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, BET.com, and more.