It’s over for another one of Hollywood’s Golden Gay Couples. Rocker Melissa Etheridge and her partner, director Julie Cypher, announced today that they are calling it quits after 12 years together, USA Today reports.
The couple has two small children.
“With the utmost of love and respect for one another, we have decided to separate,” the pair announced in a statement released by Island Records, Etheridge’s label. “As committed parents, our top priority continues to be what is in the best interest of our children. Though elements of our lives will change, our family will always remain intact.”
Cypher gave birth to the couple’s daughter, 2, and son, 1. They told Rolling Stone magazine in January that Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young legend David Crosby was the children’s biological father, donating his sperm so that the pair could give birth through artificial insemination.
Cypher was previously married to “La Bamba” actor Lou Diamond Phillips. Etheridge’s hits include “Come to My Window” and the album “Yes, I Am,” a reference to her sexual orientation.
The Etheridge-Cypher split comes on the heels of the breakup of and Anne Heche, who called it quits in August after 2 ½ years together.
Heche recently has been linked with men ranging from a co-star (Vince Vaughn) to a director (Nick Cassavetes).
Columnist Liz Smith reports today that Heche‘s current love interest is actually a 28-year-old cameraman, a man Heche met during DeGeneres‘ concert tour who was working for the pair as they recorded a documentary about the concert for HBO.
