On Oprah Winfrey's couch,
Grammy-winning singer Melissa Etheridge said her breakup with actress
Tammy Lynn Michaels Etheridge was mutual.
“As mutual as those things can be,”
she said on Friday's episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. “It's
sad, and we share two children and she will always be in my life.”
“She's a wonderful woman and an
incredible mother,” Etheridge added.
The couple exchanged vows in Malibu,
California in 2003.
Tammy Etheridge, 35, gave birth to
twins in October 2006: son Miller and daughter Johnnie Rose.
Melissa Etheridge also has two children
– Bailey, 13, and Beckett, 11 – from a previous relationship with
Julie Cypher.
In announcing their separation last
week, the women asked for “consideration and respect,” but
Etheridge told Oprah she was ready to talk about the breakup.
“People really want that sound bite
of this happened and that happened and he said and she said and
something like that, but it's not that simple,” she said. “It's
about growth, and it's certainly not even fair of me to stand here
and tell my story when Tammy doesn't have an opportunity.”
Etheridge, 48, also told the talk queen
that she's got no regrets.
“I don't have a bucket list because
it is my dedication to live every day of life there,” she said. “I
don't want to go to bed and say, 'Oh, I wish I had done this.'”