Twins For Etheridge, Partner

Melissa Etheridge and partner Tammy Lynn Michaels are sharing some major family news with their fans.

"We are thrilled to announce that Tammy is pregnant, and expecting our twins sometime around this fall," the singer and the actress say in a joint statement on Etheridge's official Web site.

"To answer the obvious question: We used an anonymous donor from a bank," the statement continues.

Etheridge, 44, and Michaels, 31, who has acted on TV's Popular and The L Word, married in Malibu in September 2003. Etheridge already had two children from a previous relationship with Julie Cypher: daughter Bailey Jean, born in 1997, and son Beckett, born in 1998.

The couple makes reference to the children in the Web statement: "These are our first two babies conceived together, but not our first time mothering together," says the posting. "For the past five years, we have been parenting two children from a previous time in Melissa's life. The twins will be a joyful addition to our loving home."

The message concludes by saying, "We are a blessed family, and ask that no gifts be sent. Any gifts we receive we will donate to a local women's shelter. However, well wishes are more than welcome!"

Bailey Jean and Beckett were conceived via artificial insemination courtesy of friend and rock legend David Crosby. But last August Etheridge said that, while she and Michaels were planning to have a child together, this time the donor would not be Crosby.

"Been there, done that," she told TV's Extra.

Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2004 and underwent chemotherapy. She made her post-chemo stage debut at last year's Grammys, where she stopped the show with her rendition of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart" – and her bald head, a result of her treatment.

Etheridge credited Michaels as being instrumental in her battle against cancer. "When it was over, I came home to a bouquet that said 'In sickness and in health,' and she means it," the singer told Extra. "And the love and support of someone like that is worth all the money in the world."

Source: PEOPLE