Melissa Etheridge on Friday filed for
dissolution of her California domestic partnership with actress Tammy
Lynn Michaels, celebrity
website TMZ reported.
The women announced their split in
April.
In the documents, the Grammy-winning
singer cites “irreconcilable differences” and asks for joint
custody of the couple's two children, son Miller and daughter Johnnie
Rose. Michaels gave birth to the twins in October 2006.
Etheridge,48, shares joint custody of
two children – Bailey, 13, and Beckett, 11 – from a previous
relationship with Julie Cypher.
The couple exchanged vows in Malibu,
California in 2003. They reportedly attempted to marry during the
2008 June-to-November window when gay marriage was legal in
California.
Speaking to chat host Oprah Winfrey,
Etheridge said her breakup was mutual.
“As mutual as those things can be,”
she said on 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.
Thirty-five-year-old Michaels, however,
has suggested the split was not entirely amicable.