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Paramount Plus' new two-part documentary series Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken follows the Grammy-winning singer and performer as she takes viewers through the struggles of women in the prison system dealing with addiction and attempts to pen an original song inspired by their letters.
Melissa Etheridge, who is popular for her beautiful lyrics and scratchy yet melodious voice, has given hit albums like Yes I Am, Brave and Crazy and Never Enough. She has won multiple Grammys and an Academy Award for her song I Need to Wake Up. The documentary also delves into her personal struggles and loss, making the story both compelling and inspiring.
The docu-series is produced by Jonathan Lynch for Shark Pig Studios and directed by Brian Morrow and Amy Scott. Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken premiered on Paramount Plus on July 9, 2024.
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The true story behind Melissa Etheridge documentary
The docu-series Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken tries to connect the general population with a forgotten section of society.
A section that lives inside the tall boundaries of brick wall and sleeps within the locked door of a tiny cell. It talks about the female inmates of the Topeka Correctional Facility, a women’s prison in Kansas located in the hometown of the celebrated artist.
The Oscar-winning singer has been fascinated with the facility ever since she was a little girl. When she received letters from five incarcerated women about their battles with substance abuse, she got inspired and decided to write an original song based on the women she met in the Topeka Correctional Facility.
Drug abuse was the core of many of the problems the incarcerated women faced. The singer had herself lost her 21-year-old son, Beckett Cypher, to a fentanyl opioid overdose and felt deeply connected to the problems of these women.
“I lost my son three years ago to a fentanyl opioid overdose. It is an epidemic." Etheridge said, in a clip shared by Paramount Plus.
"And in all of the letters, no matter what was the thing that actually got them put in here, it’s all fueled by the drug addiction that begins when they’re trying to get out of pain from whatever happened to them.”
Bringing the story to life through documentary
An excerpt from Melissa Etheridge's website defines the documentary as follows:
"MELISSA ETHERIDGE: I’M NOT BROKEN tells an inspiring story of healing and transcendence through the power of music when five female residents from the Topeka Correctional Facility, a women’s prison in Kansas, write letters to Etheridge that she uses as inspiration to create and perform an original song for them.
"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."
The docu-series follows the singer as she prepares to perform a concert at the correctional facility.
She bonds with the women through music, a shared sense of loss, and hope. The docu-series also raises awareness about the struggles of women in these kinds of facilities and the alarming fact that the rate of female incarceration since the 1980s has grown up to 700 percent.
The featured concert was performed at the correctional facility in 2023.
Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken premiered on July 9, 2024, and is available for streaming on Paramount Plus.
