The 63-year-old singer explained Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young star was the "perfect" choice when she and her then-partner Julie Cypher wanted to start a family.
She said they were looking for someone they knew who didn't want hands-on involvement in their kids' lives and the kindness of the guitarist "really taught" her "about generosity".
Etheridge, who raised Bailey, 27, and late son Beckett with Cypher, told People magazine: "The situation was special with my partner at the time because she had been adopted and she wanted her children to know who their biological father was. So we weren't going to go to a sperm bank because she wanted them to know.
"To me, I didn't want someone who wanted to be a father... I didn't want all of a sudden my children to have...'Oh, there's dad.' And who am I? That sort of thing."
Melissa Etheridge has revealed David Crosby is the biological father of two of her children. (AP PHOTO)
Crosby's wife Jan Dance suggested him to Etheridge, who says even now she is "still finding kids" who were fathered by the Wooden Ships singer, who died in January 2023 aged 81.
"We're still finding kids from David Crosby out in the world. My daughter's like, 'I have another half-sister,'" she said.
"He did not need to be (a father). And that's what really made it clear for me, was that he was willing to say, 'Yeah, I was the biological father.' And my kids call him bio dad, so he's the biological father, but they didn't need a relationship with him."
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