Sheryl Crow Diagnosed With Cancer Same Week as Lance Armstrong Split

But despite the difficulty, Sheryl was able to find the lesson she needed to learn for herself, thanks to some advice from her medical team.

“I had a really stoic oncologist who literally looked like my grandmother—not a warm and fuzzy person at all,” she explained. “She literally said, ‘I’ve had a thousand women come through with breast cancer, don’t miss out on the lesson.’”

And the Grammy winner learned that it was important to prioritize her own wellbeing instead of constantly focusing on others.

“I realized, having gone through all of that, I am a caretaker. I’m the last person I take care of,” she explained. “I take care of everybody’s emotions. I make sure everybody’s good with me.”

She added, “It took my life screeching to a halt to get to a place to go, ‘OK, who am I? And why am I doing what I’m doing? Do I love what I’m doing? What am I supposed to be doing?’”

And for Sheryl, that breakup didn’t end her dream of being a mom either, as she subsequently moved to Nashville and adopted kidsWyatt, 19, and Levi, 15.

“We all have those moments in our life where we have to pivot,” Sheryl told Variety in 2025. “I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, and I moved [to Nashville] in 2007.”

“I just looked at it and thought, ‘I want to put down roots; I want to have a family,’” she said. “My sisters live here, and my family all lived within three hours, and I just decided to start phase two.”

After their breakup, Lance weathered a major professional scandal with him being stripped of his seven Tour De France wins and a bronze medal in 2012 following a yearslong investigation into his use of performance-enhancing drugs. (After initially denying the allegations, he subsequently admitted wrongdoing.)

And while he went on to marry Anna Hansen in 2022 after they welcomed kids Max, 16, and Olivia, 15, the former cyclist—also dad to kids Luke, 26, and twins Grace and Isabelle, 24, with ex-wife KristinRichard—has previously looked back at his time with Sheryl fondly. 

“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,” he told Howard Stern in 2017. “It’s tough to pull it off. I mean, how many couples have been able to pull it off? To her credit, she was a stay-at-home—one of the biggest rock stars—she was a great partner.”

For more stars who have been candid about their own cancer journeys, keep reading.