Sheryl Crow was in the room when her ex-fiancé, Lance Armstrong, asked one of his teammates to lie about his elaborate doping cover-up, Celebuzz is reporting. The nine-time Grammy winner was named twice in affidavits submitted to the United States Anti-Dopin Association. The non-governmental agency was the first to reveal the seven-time Tour de France winner’s performance enchanting drug use.
Armstrong’s former U.S. Postal Service teammate Frankie Andreu said the disgraced cyclist summoned him to a room in 2004. He tried to persuade Andreu to convince his wife Betsy to sign a statement retracting her claim that Armstrong told doctors treating him for cancer that he had taken steroids, human growth hormone, cortisone and EPO. The Andreus insist that they were in the Indiana hospital room with Armstrong in 1996 when he made the confession.
The hospital admission was first reported publicly in 2004, in the book ‘L.A. Confidentiel,’ co-written by Irish journalist David Walsh. According to Frankie’s sworn affidavit from October, Walsh gave a radio interview around the time of the 2004 Tour de France, which Armstrong won. The writer said Betsy was willing to testify in support the hospital room confession.
Frankie said in a signed affidavit submitted to investigators that Armstrong later called him to his room to discuss the situation. “He told me that Bill Stapleton (Armstrong’s agent) wanted to talk to me about the hospital room and have my wife sign a statement of support for Lance saying the hospital incident did not happen,” he said. “His girlfriend at the time, Sheryl Crow, was in the room and I felt uncomfortable talking about this in front of her so I did not say much.”
Frankie’s revelation is the first time Crow has been directly implicated in Armstrong’s doping conspiracy. The two dated between 2003 and 2006, at which time they broke off their engagement. Armstrong won both Tour de Frances that he rode in during their relationship. The singer has never spoken about the doping, however.
In her own affidavit submitted to anti-drugs investigators, Betsy said Armstrong told her husband that Stapleton and “Bart Knaggs (another Armstrong associate) wanted to talk to him about the hospital incident and craft a statement for me to say it never happened. Lance’s then girlfriend, Sheryl Crow, was in the room and Frankie did not not want to discuss this in front of her.” Betsy added that her husband “called me right away and told me what happened.”
While talking to Katie Couric in September, Crow said it was difficult for her to watch Armstrong be stripped of his Tour de France titles. “I felt bad,” the singer said. “I felt bad for him, I felt bad for his family and I kinda felt like the rest of America… He is a hero that we watched and looked up to and admired.”
Written by: Karen Benardello
