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Melissa Etheridge reveals why she rejected Brad Pitt as sperm donor

Melissa Etheridge attends the Primary Wave 10th Annual Pre-Grammy Party at The London West Hollywood on February 14, 2016. Jason Kempin/Getty Images for EFG

In the ’90s, rocker Melissa Etheridge was searching for a sperm donor to help her and then-partner Julie Cypher have children.

Actor Brad Pitt famously came up as one of the candidates at the time, but Etheridge later chose a musician, friend David Crosby, to provide sperm.

So why didn’t Etheridge choose Pitt, long considered one of the sexiest men on the planet? Apparently because of his own desires to have a family.

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“[Pitt] was such a good friend of mine, and we did consider it,” the 54-year-old said during an interview with Australia’s Studio 10. “I looked and I saw how badly he wanted children and I thought, ‘I don’t want to share this with someone who really, badly wants children because my children don’t need another parent — they have two.”
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Ultimately, Pitt went on to have six kids with wife Angelina Jolie.

Etheridge has no regrets about her choice. She and Cypher had two children together via Crosby — a daughter, Bailey, and a son, Beckett.

“Of course, my teenagers now are like, ‘I could have had Brad Pitt [as my dad]!'” Etheridge joked. “My son said, ‘I could’ve been amazingly handsome. But no!'”

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“It’s one of the reasons why David Crosby and his wife are so perfect — because they already had children,” she added. “They were looking to do this as a gift.”

In 2006, Etheridge had another daughter and son (twins Johnnie and Miller) with then-partner Tammy Lynn Michaels. The sperm donor for the twins remains anonymous.

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