[ad_1]
Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Melissa Etheridge announced that her 21-year-old son died after a fight against opioid addiction.
The star, best known for songs like Aint It Heavy and Come To My Window, wrote a tribute to Beckett Cypher, one of her two children with ex-partner Julie Cypher, on Instagram.
He had struggled with opioid abuse and died on Wednesday.
Etheridge and David Crosby, who was Beckett’s biological father
Etheridge said he had joined “the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones” due to opioids in the United States.
“My son Beckett, who was only 21 years old, struggled to overcome his addiction and finally succumbed today,” he said. “He will be missed by those who loved him, his family and friends.
“My heart is broken. I am grateful for those who have come with their condolences and I feel their love and sincere pain.”
“We struggled with what else we could have done to save him, and in the end we know he is no longer in pain.”
Etheridge added: “I will sing again soon. It has always cured me.”
Cypher, 58, who separated in 2000, also has a daughter, Bailey.
Both boys were conceived using artificial insemination and the sperm donor was later revealed to be singer David Crosby, 78, who retweeted a tribute.
He also replied to a Twitter user saying that “it was not true” that he was simply a donor and that “he played no other role” in raising Beckett.
Etheridge and Crosby discussed their disposition during a television interview in 2000.
“I don’t think my children want in any way because they didn’t have a father in the house every day,” said Etheridge.
“What they have at home are two loving parents. I think that puts them ahead of the game.”
The opioid crisis in the United States has been linked to more than 400,000 deaths in the past two decades.
An opioid is a medication that works on parts of the brain and body, called opioid receptors, that help moderate sensations such as pain, mood, appetite, and various bodily functions.
Opioids exist in nature, for example in the form of opium, and have been used for thousands of years by humans, who have gradually refined them in other forms such as codeine, heroin, or morphine.
[ad_2]