Melissa Etheridge & Linda Wallem

Linda Wallem was the showrunner of That ’80s Show, and at the time, she had a big casting idea: to work with Melissa Etheridge, the rock-star singer behind the hits I’m the Only One and Come to My Window. In the 2002 sitcom, Wallem wanted her to play a record store owner. And Etheridge, who had considered acting, came in to discuss the comedic role. Despite the fact that the part did not work out, the two became friends.

By 2010, the singer had already divorced her first husband. She invited Wallem to live with her children on a platonic basis. After being in the same house for a while, the two developed feelings for each other to some degree. In 2014, the couple married in California’s San Ysidro Ranch, two days after they both turned 53. They are still happily married today, along with their four children.