Sheryl Crow has opened up about her breakup with former fiancé Lance Armstrong while she was also undergoing breast cancer treatment.

Crow spilled the details on The Bobbycast, saying the relationship ended around the same time she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I was engaged, I had three beautiful stepchildren, I wanted to have kids with this person. We split in the same week … I got diagnosed with breast cancer,” Crow, 64, recalled on the Tuesday episode of Bobby Bones’ The Bobbycast podcast on Netflix. “[Then] I found out he was seeing a really famous actress.”

She said she had been engaged and planning a future with Armstrong, including having children. Shortly after their split, she learned he had started dating a “really famous actress.”

Crow said the period was emotionally difficult. She described going through treatment while also dealing with grief and anger over the breakup. “I really felt like I went through about nine months of radiation and grieving and anger,” she added.

Crow and Armstrong were together from 2003 to 2006 and were briefly engaged before splitting. Armstrong later went on to have children with his ex-wife Kristin Richard and later with his current wife, Anna Hansen.

Crow said the experience forced her to reflect on her life and priorities. “I realised, having gone through all that, that I am a caretaker. I’m the last person I take care of. I take care of everybody’s emotions [and] I make sure everybody is good with me.”

She added that her doctor helped her reframe the experience and focus on what she needed to learn from it. 

Following her recovery, Crow later adopted two sons, Wyatt and Levi. She said becoming a mother came at the right time in her life and that she believes her children “picked her.”