Sheryl Crow on Marriage: "It's Better to Have Three Broken Engagements Than Three Divorces"

Fifty-two-year-old country singer covers the August issue of Good Housekeeping

By Alyssa Toomey Jul 16, 2014 5:40 PMTags
Sheryl Crow, Good HousekeepingGood Housekeeping

While Sheryl Crow may cheerfully sing about soaking up the sun, the singer has endured her fair share of heartbreak—and isn't afraid to live life on her own terms.

The 52-year-old beauty stuns on the cover of Good Housekeeping's August issue, in which she opens up about her past relationships, her thoughts on marriage and her decision to adopt sons  Wyatt and Levi in addition to sharing her candid thoughts on the music industry.

"Hey, I would love to get married — I'm still old-fashioned. But I don't think marriage is the be-all and end-all," the country crooner, whose parents have been married for 50 years tells the mag before poking fun at her own dating history. "It's better to have three broken engagements than three divorces."

Crow has dated her fair share of high-profile hotties, including actor Owen Wilson, musician Eric Clapton and cyclist Lance Armstrong, although she admits there was never an equal balance in her previous relationships, which ultimately led to their demise.

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"I had always gone out with guys who were highly successful, which would seem like it would put me at an equal level," she explains. "But what ends up happening is that one of you becomes smaller — and it was always me. It's always the woman. I mean, I don't know if it's always the woman, but I do think that sometimes in order for one person's light to shine, everyone else has to dim theirs."

The same was true with former fiancé Lance Armstrong with whom she found herself feeling "really small," admitting she became a "self-appointed caretaker" who was always checking to make sure that "everyone else was OK, everyone else was happy."

Five months after the pair announced their engagement in 2005, the duo went their separate ways, and shortly after, Crow was diagnosed with breast cancer. After successfully beating the disease, the singer decided to move to Nashville in order to be closer to her family and ultimately came to the realization that she wanted to start a family of her own.

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Crow adopted sons Wyatt, now 7, in 2007 and Levi, now 4, in 2010. Although the two have different parents, Crow says her boys "could not be more brothers if I'd had them both myself."

"They understand that they came out of different tummies," she explains. "But they also believe, as do I, that God put us together. They know how blessed I am to get to be their mommy. So when they're mad that I won't let them play video games, I say, 'God put me in charge. I'm raising you-all the best that I can, and some decisions are not fun.'"

As far as her music career, the nine-time Grammy winner, who will be touring with Rascal Flatts this summer, has experienced two decades of success, although she admits the changing industry makes it tough for female musicians.

 "It's hard to be a woman in music today," she says. "There's so much sex that's projected, and that's a bummer. These singers talk about how empowering it is, but a good musician who can command the stage doesn't have to rely on sex to sell her music."