Two-part series focuses on singer-songwriter’s correspondence with five female inmates behind bars for substance abuse issues
Melissa Etheridge’s bond with five incarcerated women will be the focus of an upcoming docuseries premiering on Paramount+ this year.
The two-part Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken follows the singer as she communicates with female inmates — each behind bars for substance abuse-related issues — at the Topeka Correctional Facility. The correspondence serves as direct inspiration for a new song Etheridge is penning in the docuseries, Paramount+ said in its announcement.
“I’m excited for audiences to join me on this powerful journey and hear these remarkable stories filled with pain and struggle but also hope and healing,” Etheridge said in a statement. “I hope that this docuseries shows viewers the challenges that women face in our prison system while also serving as a resource to those who currently are struggling.”
The issue of addiction and substance abuse especially resonates with Etheridge as her 21-year-old son, Beckett Cypher, died in 2020, a victim of the opioid crisis. “Having recently lost her son to opioids, Etheridge works to understand and interrupt the cycle of addiction while connecting with these women who, so often, are forgotten by society,” Paramount+ added.
“Additionally, the docuseries explores themes of female incarceration, redemption, substance abuse, generational trauma, grief and healing. With female incarceration rates up 700 percent since 1980, Etheridge bonds with the women through the conduit of music as an act of empathy, understanding and hope.”
Etheridge, who will also present at this Sunday’s CMT Music Awards, is in the midst of her I’m Not Broken Tour. In 2023, the singer-songwriter published Talking to My Angels, her second memoir after 2001’s The Truth Is …: My Life in Love and Music.
