Sheryl Crow moved to Tennessee when she started to “reassess” her life after her break-up from Lance Armstrong.
Sheryl Crow started to “reassess” her life after her break-up from Lance Armstrong.
The 63-year-old singer decided to relocate to Nashville, Tennessee, from Hollywood in the wake of her split from the cyclist – who, at the time, had three children with first wife Kristin Richard and now has two other kids with spouse Anna Hanse – and diagnosis with breast cancer because the major life changes made her reconsider her priorities.
She told Variety: “We all have those moments in our life where we have to pivot.
“I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, and I moved here in 2007.
“I think having come out of a relationship where I thought I was gonna be married and was close to the kids that were gonna be my stepkids, then got diagnosed—all three of those things made me reassess.
“I just looked at it and thought, ’I want to put down roots; I want to have a family.’ My sisters live here, and my family all lived within three hours, and I just decided to start phase two.”
The ‘If It Makes You Happy’ hitmaker went on to adopt son Wyatt, now 18, in 3007 and Levi, 15, in 2010.
Sheryl always puts her sons first and cut short her stint on Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan’s ‘Outlaw Music Festival Tour’ because her boys have school and “don’t want to go on the road”.
She added: “I’m too selfish to want to miss any time with them. I feel like my 18 year old was just born, and he’s gonna be leaving for college in a year.”
But Sheryl wants to take on more work once her sons are ready to leave home.
She said: “I’ll go back to work full time because I have an acute connection to joy when I’m playing.”
The ‘All I Wanna Do’ singer is thankful she isn’t just starting her career now because of the obsession with stars and their “brands”.
She said: “When I think about it, it does make me sad that kids grow up now in my line of work where you hope you write a song as big as your brand, and the brand is so 24 hours a day — it’s so cultivated and so ego driven that if I were coming up in today’s world, I wouldn’t be able to do it, because the ego is the thing that makes me so miserable.
“I already struggle with having my feelings hurt. I can’t imagine what it would be like to go into it knowing I’ve got to build this picture of a famous, secure person but also try to be vulnerable and be an artist.
“I think if you’re a person like me that struggles with depression already, you’re always trying to figure out how to quiet those voices. And I’ve sort of made peace with it.”
Sheryl Crow ‘reassessed’ life after Lance Armstrong split and cancer diagnosis
