Lance Armstrong, once a sports celebrity, was caught for using narcotics to enhance his performance as a cyclist.
There are times when a breakup feels like a punch in the guts, but years later we realize that losing that person was the best thing that could have happened to us. When we are with the person, we may not realize that they are not good for us but later, with distance, it gets easier to see it.
Can't Cry Anymore singer Sheryl Crow had given three years of her life to former sports celebrity Lance Armstrong. They met at a charity event in 2003 and while they both had really busy careers, they made it work. For a while, at least. Crow would make time to cheer him during his races and he would accompany her on the red carpet at entertainment industry events. They got engaged in 2005 and five months later in February 2006, they called it quits.
"I mean, we really loved each other a lot, and still love each other a lot," the singer reflected on her past relationship on Good Morning America in 2008, according to ABC. "I'm not angry. I mean, honestly, I look at it, and I just know that I can't be angry at Lance for being who he is," said the breast cancer survivor. "You know, he's a great person and it's his life, too. You know, it's what -- it's about what he wants and it's about what I want. And where the two don't meet, there's definitely a, you know, a fissure."
The Home singer compared the end of her relationship to "death." "In many ways it's like having part of your life amputated, but you still have that phantom itch, you know, where you wake up and I'll see something and think, 'Oh, I've got to make sure Lance is hip to this band. I've got to put it on his iPod.' And then I remember, 'Oh, wait, you know, that's not my life.'"
The relationship was a cherished one and she also made two albums reflecting on her time with the now-disgraced cyclist. After the break-up though, she didn't keep the engagement ring. "Oh Lord, no, I didn't. It was beautiful and a symbol of something really, really sweet. But at that moment, it was -- also represented a lot of pain, you know, and also was quite expensive. And I don't know what the etiquette is with something like that," she added with a laugh.
The cyclist, who opened up on The Oprah Winfrey Show that he had doped to enhance his performance as a cyclist and got banned for life, had also opened up about the relationship in 2017. As per ETOnline, speaking to Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show, he said, "It was a good ride. She’s a great lady. Obviously it didn’t work out, but I think and I hope she’s happy. I’m happy." "I watched the GRAMMYs the other day, and we were like presenters at the GRAMMYs …At the time, I was like, ‘I’ve got to go do what?’," said the testicular cancer survivor.
The pressure that comes with being in a relationship in the public eye had bothered him and affected his attitude. "It’s tough to pull it off. I mean, how many couples have been able to pull it off?” he noted. “To her credit, she was a stay-at-home -- one of the biggest rockstars -- but she was a great partner. She was at the races. It wasn’t like we never saw each other," he said.
But what really broke the camel's back was him not being on the same page as her. "She wanted marriage, she wanted children; and not that I didn’t want that," he wrote in his book Lance, as per Us Weekly. "But I didn’t want that at that time because I had just gotten out of a marriage, I’d just had kids." He added, "Yet we’re up against her biological clock -- that pressure is what cracked it."
Crow was saved the embarrassment of being with someone who had been dishonest in his profession. She went on to beat cancer and adopt two boys, Levi, 9, and Wyatt, 12. The mom-of-two has never been married and is still open to finding love. "I would love [to get married]. But I don’t think it’s the end-all, be-all," Crow told PEOPLE. "I tell all my friends, ‘Set me up.’ They’re like, ‘We don’t know anybody good enough,’ and I keep saying, ‘Lower your standards!'” said the 58-year-old Crow in 2019.
References:
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Entertainment/story?id=2159040&page=1
https://people.com/music/sheryl-crow-isnt-dating-open-to-marriage/
