DAVID CROSBY’S DYING REGRET
Rocker blamed son’s fatal addiction on bad family genes
TROUBLED ’60s rock legend David Crosby went to his grave consumed by guilt over the 2020 overdose death of his biological 21-year-old son, Beckett Cypher — because he believed his own genetic predisposition to addiction was inherited by the youth!
While the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young legend, who died at 81 on Jan. 18, didn’t actually raise Beckett, he was the sperm-donating dad of two kids born to then-lesbian partners Julie Cypher and singer Melissa Etheridge.
“David never got over the death because he personally felt responsible” when opioid junkie Beckett died from an overdose, says an insider. “He believed his own addictive behavior was almost certainly passed down to his son.”
And he wasn’t wrong, experts suggest. Explosive family studies indicate as much as half of a person’s risk of becoming addicted to nicotine, alcohol or other drugs depends on genetic makeup. The Wasted on the Way rocker had a long history of drug abuse, including heroin and cocaine addictions. He served nine months in a Texas prison on drugs and weapons charges in 1985.
Ironically, Crosby credited his jail stint for helping him kick his drug demons.
Still, his lifestyle wrecked his health. He had several heart attacks and underwent a 1994 liver transplant paid for by drummer Phil Collins. Three years later, his biological daughter Bailey was born after he donated sperm to pals Julie and Melissa. Beckett was born a year later.
Crosby died riddled with guilt over his son’s death, says the insider. “David may have conquered his own demons but he couldn’t stop feeling maybe he’d passed his problematic personality on,” says the source. “It nagged at him until the day he died!”