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Melissa Etheridge Files For Divorce, Leaves Tammy Lynn Michaels Blindsided & Broke

Melissa Etheridge Files For Divorce, Leaves Tammy Lynn Michaels Blindsided & Broke

After nine years together, singer Melissa Etheridge filed for divorce from actress Tammy Lynn Michaels on Friday (July 2), citing irreconcilable differences.

Melissa, 49, is asking the court not to award financial support to Tammy, 35, but seeking joint custody of their 3-year-old twins, Miller and Johnnie. (Tammy gave up Hollywood to raise the kids in Indiana. Melissa has been on the road, performing her “Fearless Love” concert tour.)

Here’s what Tammy had to say about being blindsided by the divorce news via her blog:

i am wondering if it’s an art

gentle waves
no noise for awhile
or maybe gentle voices

and

SMACK!!!!!!!!!!!!
FILE FOR DIVORCE!!!!!!
even though we both promised
agreed
handshook
pinkyswore

no filing until after tour
in the fall

her broken promises
told to me by
headlines

i’m raising the kids
doing what i can
second set of yours

could you stop blind sighting me?

unless it’s another art form you’re working on?

have a good concert.
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Click inside to read Tammy‘s other VERY TELLING blog entry…

Tammy’s New Blog Entry ABOUT MELISSA

“no such thing as privacy, i guess? so okay.”

2001.
late 2001

we were standing on a porch, outside, under the stars. we were talking about life, and what was coming up in the future, and schedules, and dreams, and building. she had a tour coming up, but the kids had school, and i had some auditions coming… what to do, what to do, what to do….

and that’s when i sort of knew. those kids needed someone at home, someone stable, someone who wasn’t jetting off all the time, and scrambling in and out. i knew that was like, to be a kid, and have people on revolving doors. so i stepped in, truly thinking i was doing the right thing.

“you know what?” i said. “do you want me to take a year off? take care of the kids? i can be here when you’re gone, get them at school, bake for them, do the school stuff, and just catch them when you’re not here. want me to do that?”

her face lit up like i was giving her a present she wanted but could never name. “would you do that??? you would do that???”

“sure! i’ve always wanted to make a home anyway! i’ll make a home for you and me and the kids, and you go and do your thang with your guitar!”

we laughed and hugged, and she said it was perfect, and it was what she had always wanted anyways, but didn’t want to ask anybody to do it for her….. make her a home…. etc. and that night was perfect. sitting on the porch, under the stars, back when we lived on the house on Mandeville canyon, near the ocean.

i gave up my managers, agents, contacts, all that good stuff, because i stepped directly into potty training a small boy, and carrying around a small girl on my hip. both excellent souls. and i was a very huge part in raising them for many many years while She with the Guitar focused on her Guitar.

i was always the house wife after that. the only thing i hated about it was not bringing in money- i have made my own money since i started babysitting at 10, and having a newspaper route at 11. having no steady paycheck killed me for those years with her. and now it’s really killing me. the other week i had to borrow money from a friend. two weeks ago i had to scrape together $1.25 to pay for gas. i know she doesn’t want to give me money. trust. i’m borrowing cash left and right from people to get through this summer, and feed my kids, with a stomach full of ulcers, thank you. no stress here. :-)

how’s that spiritual tour coming along?

so now…. to open the lap top…. and read the headlines…. when i just spoke to the fame crawler yesterday…. she could have mentioned it….. and hmmm…. wants some custody of kids…. interesting…. but no $ support for me… interesting as well…. so so so interesting, there, melissa. practicing what we preach is always hard for americans, i think. (is that why you and rick warren got along so well? ) oh, the nights of promises…. “tammy, if i ever leave you, it’s because i’m crazy, and you have to come find me and get me and save me!!! we have to be together forever!” (remember that one, lucky?)

the corn out here in indiana is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING this time of year. i don’t know if it’s the humidity that brings it on or what…. but boy is it GOOOD!!!!! this farm girl is headed back to hollywood pretty shortly here, but i’m going to try to hang on to my honesty and my integrity and my gumption. i also am going to hold on to my balls, i think. if someone tries to make my life a cartoon, i’m going to step in.

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Credit: Andrew H. Walker; Photos: Getty
Posted to: Divorce, Melissa Etheridge, Split, Tammy Lynn Michaels