At least one person in Brad Pitt's life recognized early on that he wanted to be a father. Melissa Etheridge considered her good friend Pitt to donate his sperm so she and then-partner, Julie Cypher, could have children together, but she didn't want a biological father who wanted to be involved.
Etheridge and Cypher had two children - Bailey born in 1997 and Beckett born a year later. The mystery of their biological father was kept secret until 2000 when Rolling Stone magazine revealed David Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash had been chosen as the sperm donor.
Crosby already had children, which played into Etheridge's decision to go with the rocker rather than Hollywood's rising superstar, Pitt.
"Well actually, [Pitt] was such a good friend of mine. And we did consider it," the 54-year-old singer said. "And yet, I looked and I saw how badly he wanted children and I though, '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."
She continued, "It's one of the reasons why David Crosby and his wife are so perfect - because they (already) had children. They were looking to do this as a gift. And my children are lovely and gorgeous anyway."
The Grammy-winning artist joked that her kids, now in their late teens, complain, "I could have had Brad Pitt (as my dad)!" Her son also says, "I could've been amazingly handsome."
Crosby's wife, Jan Dance, suggested her husband be the sperm donor while the couples were on vacation in Hawaii. Etheridge and Cypher decided to go public a few years later to stop the speculation and rumors surrounding their children. The couple eventually broke up in 2001.
Etheridge ended up performing at Pitt's wedding to Jennifer Aniston in 2000, but the two have not spoken in over a decade. Pitt and Aniston divorced in 2005, the same year he began dating his now-wife Angelina Jolie.
He first officially adopted her two adopted children, son Maddox and daughter Zahara. They welcomed their first child together, Shiloh in 2006, and adopted their fourth child, Pax, in 2008. That same year, Jolie gave birth to their twins, son Knox and daughter Vivienne.
