Rock singer Melissa Etheridge is opening up about her past and struggles earlier in career. The singer says she felt uncomfortable keeping her sexuality a secret for so many years.
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Etheridge opened up about things on the June 1 episode of P&G and iHeartRadio's Elton John Impact Awards podcast. She said that her music became increasingly personal during the 1990s, but she was still holding onto a pretty big secret. This made her feel uncomfortable.
"I started thinking, gosh, you know, it's getting a little uncomfortable because my music was so personal," she said. "It was very interrelational music — songs about, you know, passion and desire and heartbreak, and, and so the questions that interviewers would give me were more detailed."
Etheridge continued, "And I was always very, very careful to just say 'they,' 'them,' 'you' [when referring to a partner], and even my music was very genderless."
Melissa Etheridge Talks Sexuality
In the media, Etheridge was portrayed as straight in 1992 when a journalist called her parter a boyfriend. This caused a crisis for the singer.
"Underground, people knew I was a lesbian, and it just horrified me. I said, 'People are gonna think I'm lying and I'm trying to cover up. And it just, it horrified me. So I was like, 'No, no, no. I need to come out,'" Etheridge said on the podcast.
Etheridge accused a journalist of changing the pronouns that she used to describe her partner.
"I was on the cover of Music Express, and he changed every pronoun that I used," Etheridge said.
Ultimately, the singer chose to come out publicly because she didn't want the LGBTQ community to think she was ashamed of her sexuality. Etheridge revealed publicly she was a lesbian at Bill Clinton's inauguration after working on his campaign in the 1990s.
It was a big moment for the singer and her journey.
