Melissa Etheridge is engaged to Linda Wallem, the rocker revealed during a June 26 phone interview with CNN's Ashleigh Banfield. The revelation came just after the U.S. Supreme Court declared the Defense of Marriage Act "unconstitutional" and gave legally married same-sex couples the same federal rights as heterosexual couples. The High Court also overturned California's Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that said the state would only recognize marriage as being "between a man and a woman."
"It is about family and I love my four kids," Etheridge, 52, said. "I called my now-fiancee. I'm looking forward to marrying my partner of three years . . . I'm going to get married in the state of California. 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."
Etheridge added, "Love is love and America is beautiful. . . It's just an amazing, amazing day. I'm proud to be an American."
The singer — known for hits like "Come to My Window" and "I'm the Only One" — also shared her engagement news via Twitter. "I look forward to exercising my American civil liberties and getting fully, completely and legally married this year to my true love of over three years, Linda Wallem," she wrote.
Etheridge was previously in an eight-year partnership with actress Tammy Lynn Michaels. The exes share custody of 7-year-old twins Johnnie and Miller. The musician began dating Wallem, a 52-year-old sitcom writer, in 2010.