Melissa And Tammy Etheridge Have Split
This just is not the year for long relationships to keep on lasting. Another long term relationship has ended. Melissa and Tammy Etheridge announced they were splitting up after 9 years together. Melissa's publicist is the one who released the statement so it could have been her who decided to end it. "Melissa and Tammy Etheridge are saddened to announce that they are now separated."
This was a couple that I really thought would always be together. I mean they went through child birth together and Melissa had breast cancer.
I don't think Melissa is capable of staying with anybody.
ReplyDeleteSad for the kids.
She's also a serial monogomist.
ReplyDeleteWow! Lots of breakups recently.
ReplyDeleteAs sad as this is, they were pretty age-inappropriate for each other. I think that, especially when the older partner has so much more "star power" than the other, and especially in a female-female relationship, having such a large age difference can create conflicts.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as a lesbian, my sad bet is that Tammy had an affair because Melissa ignored Tammy's emotional needs, because she was the powerful one (age-wise, money-wise and fame-wise) in the relationship and was perfectly comfortable. Have seen it happen--unfortunately--far too often.
I actually was quite surprised to hear about this one...I thought these two were going to make it.
ReplyDeleteAnd Gladys, the dynamic you described is very common in hetero relationships too, I think. maybe it just becomes more visible when there are two women involved?
You know, I've always thought female/female relationships would be harder than male/male, or female/male ones. The only lesbian I know is always having huge, huge, manic crazy bust ups with her girlfriend, but that could just be her and not a comment on lesbians in general.
ReplyDelete@Harriet: ABSOLUTELY. I realized after I wrote that comment that I didn't acknowledge the dynamic's presence in male/female relationships. It's just that in lesbian relationships, there's the illusion of equality, and magical thinking. If we just SAY that the richer, older and more famous person is equal to the poorer, younger and less famous person, then it will be so. Uh huh.
ReplyDelete@Sue Ellen: It's not just your friend. There's even a term for it. Dyke Drama.
And also, obviously, my comment isn't true for everyone, nor every lesbian relationship. I just have always gotten a hit from Melissa and Tammy that there were power dynamics involved in their relationship.
Dyke drama. I love it, and I'm going to use it. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteDyke drama seems to often involve exes. My lesbian friends have more drama than a Mexican soap opera and they try to drag their exes, straight friends, and husbands into it.
ReplyDeleteI would have run from Melissa at "David Crosby is the father of my kids and my wife who left Lou Diamond Phillips for me has gone back to men."
I'm sad about this one. I loved Tammy in Popular.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how they'll arrange the kids stuff. If I'm remembering right, their house backs up to Melissa's previous ex, so the first two kids can go back and forth easily between their two homes. Now with Melissa and Tammy splitting, do they try and buy a house next door so Melissa can be close to all four of her kids?
Melissa and Julie had houses with adjoining back yards just after they split. When the kids were older, it was houses in the same neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading Tammy's blog and wondered when this announcement would be made. Sad.
Melissa and Julie don't live in the same area anymore. How long has Tammy been mentioning in her blog that they were separated? Not to be too cynical, but if it's been awhile, does the separation announcement today have anything to do with Melissa's album coming out in a few weeks? Just wondering.
ReplyDelete@mazemerizing: ooh, that's a good point. She's done similar stuff in the past. I can't remember the specifics, but I want to say the announcement of her breakup coinciding with her book release.
ReplyDelete@Paisley: You and I might be the only ones who liked Popular, but Tammy was pretty funny in it.
I, too, was a fan of "Popular"! :)
ReplyDeleteOh good, Harriet. Remember the one when they accidentally flushed a communion wafer down the toilet? OMG, that was so funny.
ReplyDeleteI guess the 3 of us weren't enough to keep it on the air.
I'm surprised that they were together for 9 years. I didn't think it had been 9 years. Where did the time go?
ReplyDeletesad. you're right hotchacha, i can't believe it's been nine years.
ReplyDelete