ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Tomorrow on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, we're bringing you some Thanksgiving treats. We've got olives and celery, wild turkeys and also a wild rocker.</s>MELISSA ETHERIDGE: (Singing) They've been calling me the monster ever since the day I was born.</s>ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Melissa Etheridge joins us to talk about her music and about being a public face of gay rights and other hot button issues.</s>MELISSA ETHERIDGE: You know, it's not anything I signed up for. I really - all I wanted to do was be rich and famous. That's really - you know, I wanted to make music. I wanted to have the comfortable life of a rock star. And, you know, life is what happens to you along the way, and the choices that I made, the choice of realizing that people wanted to know more about me personally, and I felt like I was holding back. I didn't feel truthful, and I wanted to be. I don't - I'm not someone who hides things, so I felt very confident about stepping forward about my sexuality, and that sort of opens the door. Once you open the door and say, I'm going to speak truthfully, then you've got to start speaking truthfully about everything, the good and the bad.</s>MELISSA ETHERIDGE: (Singing) Shouting out loud and beating that drum. Iâm gigantic, titanic. I might cause a panic.</s>ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Melissa Etheridge, tomorrow on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.</s>MELISSA ETHERIDGE: (Singing) I am a monster full of desire, full of love. I am a monster, the one that everyone is so afraid of.
Ari Shapiro previews his Thanksgiving Day conversation with Melissa Etheridge.