You’ll be forgiven for forgetting Sheryl Crow and former sports star and racing cyclist Lance Armstrong ever dated.
The pair, then at the prime of their respective careers, dated in the early 2000s from 2004 to 2006.
Before that, Crow, known for hits including All I Wanna Do, The First Cut Is the Deepest and If It Makes You Happy, had some high-profile romances, including with the likes of actor Owen Wilson.
What happened to Sheryl Crow and Lance Armstrong?
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Well, they certainly weren’t shy in flaunting their short-lived romance.
The pair became red carpet regulars and often were spotted kissing in front of the cameras, looking incredibly happy in each other’s company.
They even presented an award together at the Grammys in 2005 during their time together, the singer stunned in a bright yellow cut-out dress.
Crow was often spotted on the sidelines watching Armstrong cycle. He was considered one of the best in the world, with his multiple Tour de France wins.
Their romance perfectly blended the worlds of country music and sport.
How did they meet and when did they get engaged?
The former couple enjoyed an age-gap romance, of about nine-10 years. They reportedly first met in 2003 at a charity event and things moved swiftly.
“I knew pretty quickly that I was totally into him,” Crow told People.
Before that, Armstrong was married to Kristin Richard, but they divorced the same year he met the singer.
He and the hitmaker were first spotted together in 2004 and a year later, in 2005, cancer survivor Armstrong popped the question during a romantic boat trip on a lake.
She later was seen flashing a huge diamond ring on her engagement finger, which is believed to have been six carats.
Crow previously said to Entertainment Weekly about becoming a stepmother to his children: “I love them as much as if they were my own.”
People reports the pair shared a ranch in Austin before their split.
When did they split?
Alas, the happiness wasn’t set to last. They were reportedly engaged for just five months.
In 2006, the pair released a joint statement confirming they were going their separate ways and calling off their wedding, saying they made “a very tough decision”.
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Shortly after, Crow compared the breakup to “a death” when speaking to Good Morning America and said it takes time to get used to her significant other not being there.
“It is like a death. And 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.'”
Armstrong, according to US Weekly, reportedly told Howard Stern during an interview about how difficult it was to have a high-profile relationship in the limelight.
“It’s tough to pull it off. I mean, how many couples have been able to pull it off?” he said.
He added: “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.”
As the publication reports, he reportedly wrote in his memoir that she wanted kids and he already had them and wasn’t ready for more at that time.
”Yet we’re up against her biological clock — that pressure is what cracked it,” he wrote.
Did they remarry or move on?
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Armstrong went on to marry Anna Hansen in a Château in France in 2022, they share two children together, making him a father-of-five.
They met in 2008. He called her the “love of my life” when they tied the knot in a sweet Instagram post.
“Anna, you have been my absolute rock the past 14 years and let me be clear, I would not have survived them without you,” he said.
Crow went on to adopt two sons following the split; Wyatt and Levi.
“There is nothing that can compare to the joy and love you’ve given my life and nothing I do means anything without you guys,” she said about her boys in a speech when getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Crow is also a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006.
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“As I share in my documentary Sheryl, 2006 was a particularly tumultuous time of my life,” she said about the time to People.
“I was going through a public breakup and battling with paparazzi, all while trying to focus on my career.”
In 2013, Armstrong shocked the world when he admitted to doping in an Oprah Winfrey interview and was stripped of his tour titles.
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