Melissa Etheridge Puts Love Into Song For New Wife Linda Wallem
Melissa Etheridge and Linda Wallem are making May celebrations the standard in their family. Two days after both turned 53, they were married in Montecito, California.
That means future Spring seasons will feature dual birthdays and an anniversary.
The outdoor ceremony, detailed by People, featured a new song Etheridge wrote for Linda – and played for her for the first time. Etheridge teased the new song on her Twitter page on Thursday:
Ok, so I might be singing a brand new song that no one has ever heard to someone special at a intimate gathering Sat..just wanted to share
— Melissa Etheridge (@metheridge) May 29, 2014
Etheridge has four children, all of whom were there to witness the nuptials. Her children with Julie Cypher, Bailey Jean Cypher, 17 and Beckett Cypher, 15, were joined by her seven-year-old twins with Tammy Lynn Michaels, Miller Steven Etheridge, and Johnnie Rose Etheridge.
Melissa and Linda started dating in 2010, after being friends for a decade. According to Billboard it is the first “legally sanctioned” marriage for both. The vows were exchanged in a lily garden surrounded by red and purple flowers. Celebs in attendance included actor Jane Lynch and talk show host Chelsea Handler.
Etheridge is a well-known musician whose new album is due out in September. Wallem is the creator of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie. The couple first announced their engagement last June, when the US Supreme Court declared the Defence of Marriage Act unconstitutional. Etheridge told CNN at the time:
It is about family and I love my four kids. I called my now-fiancee. I’m looking forward to marrying my partner of three years… I woke [the kids] up this morning telling them the Supreme Court ruling on DOMA…I love everybody out there. It’s a great day… Love is love and America is beautiful… It’s just an amazing, amazing day. I’m proud to be an American.
The announcement came the same month last year as when Etheridge, a breast cancer survivor, made news for bringing a different perspective to Angelina Jolie’s public decision to have a double mastectomy. Melissa said at the time in an interview with the Washington Blade: “I have that gene mutation too and it’s not something I would believe in for myself. I wouldn’t call it the brave choice.”
In that same interview, Etheridge said of her relationship with Wallem, “I finally got it right. It’s a bunch of things. It’s a grown-up relationship.”
[Image: Getty Images]
