Chris Evert Admits That Her Relationship With Greg Norman Began as an Affair

You can assume something about someone all you want, but until they confirm it, it's impossible to ever know if it really true. We can now, thanks to an upcoming interview in Vogue, cited below by an Australian Web site, all accept the reality that the elderly-superstar-athlete relationship between Chris Evert and Greg Norman did begin as an extramarital affair.

Norman and Evert

Golfing great Greg Norman and tennis legend Chris Evert were married last month, not long after each split with their previous spouses. Evert now tells Vogue magazine that the relationship started before the two couples split.

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The couple, seen here in April, tied the knot in the Bahamas. The two exchanged vows in front of 140 family and friends, according to People magazine. They spent up to $2 million for their lavish nuptials, according to media reports.

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Evert won 18 Grand Slam singles titles between 1974 and 1986. She was the world's top-ranked female singles player for seven years and her career win-loss record in singles matches of 1,309-146 (.900) is the best of any professional player in tennis history.

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Norman won the British Open twice (1986 and 1993) and spent 331 weeks as the world's top-ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s. The Aussie, however, is regarded as a career underachiever with several heart-breaking performances in golf's majors and 7 second-place finishes.

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Evert has had many high-profile relationships. She and tennis great Jimmy Connors were engaged in 1974, the same year that the two players won their first Grand Slam titles. The romance did not last though and their wedding was called off.

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Evert married British tennis player John Lloyd in 1979 and went by the name Chris Evert-Lloyd until the marriage ended in divorce in 1987.

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Evert divorced former husband Andy Mill, a World Cup and Olympic skier, last December after 18 years of marriage.

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"The Shark" recently reached a divorce settlement with his wife of 26 years, Laura Andrassy. The couple, seen here in 1993, had three children, including son Gregory Jr., who served as best man in his father's second wedding.

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The tennis legend revealed that she and Norman had tried to fight their desire for each other and had undergone couples-counseling with their longtime spouses, Andy Mill and Laura Andrassy, in an effort to overcome their mutual attraction.

But Evert, who married the Great White Shark in a lavish ceremony in the Bahamas last month, said counselling did not work and the pair dissolved their marriages to be together.

"It was like an irresistible force," she said. "How do you explain something like that?"

It is the first time the sporting power couple have publicly admitted they had embarked on an illicit romantic relationship while they were still with their spouses.

Far be it for me to stand on a pedestal and chastise Evert and Norman. In fact, I'm more of the opinion that the affair, while possibly detrimental to other relationships, is at least (now) the most honest part of the whole situation.

Seriously, their relationship with each other was to an irreconcilable point regarding their marriages, so to continue on seems like somewhat of a sham.

And Evert's willingness to come clean certainly goes a long way in my book, because admitting publicly that you cheated on your spouse, especially when the option to disappear in the Badlands is out there, is not exactly the easiest thing to do.

Besides, we can judge all we want, but what's done is done, and public scrutiny certainly doesn't seem like something that will bother either of them at this point. Except on Sundays. Norman can't handle it then.

Via Game On

Messy Divorces

Greg Norman and Laura Andrassy: The golf legend, who is on a honeymoon with his current wife, tennis great Chris Evert, was married to Andrassy for 26 years. Click through to see some nasty public divorces.

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Alex Rodriguez and Cynthia Rodriguez: It appears that A-Rod's marriage is over. Cynthia Rodriguez filed for divorce Monday, alleging infidelity and that the Yankees star "has emotionally abandoned his wife and children."

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Tricia Walsh Smith & Philip Smith: A British actress who became an Internet star by trashing her estranged husband on YouTube defended her video rants in a New York court. Broadway producer Philip Smith, here with Tricia Walsh Smith in happier times, is suing for divorce, claiming the videos constitute spousal abuse.

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Heather Mills and Paul McCartney: The rock icon and former model split up in 2006 after a four-year marriage. In court papers, Mills accused McCartney of being physically violent and abusive. He denied the claims. In March, she was awarded a $48.6 million settlement. At the hearing, she doused McCartney's attorney with water.

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James and Dina Matos McGreevey: Matos McGreevey was at her husband's side when he announced in 2004 that he was gay and resigned as New Jersey governor over an affair with a man. In a memoir, she said he hid his homosexuality; he denied it. He said they had trysts with a man; she denied that. A judge is currently deciding how much alimony and support she should receive.

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Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook: They reached an out-of-court settlement, but only after several days of trial testimony exposed lurid details of Cook's affair with a teenage assistant and his predilection for Internet porn. The 54-year-old former supermodel agreed to pay Cook $2.1 million. She gets to keep 18 properties in the Hamptons and custody of the kids.

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Ellen Barkin and Ron Perelman: Their seven-year marriage came to a sudden end when the billionaire's lawyers served the actress divorce papers in their Manhattan townhouse in January 2006, ordering her to move out pronto. In August 2007, Barkin announced she was suing Perelman for $3.4 million, saying he had failed to keep an agreement to fund the company they created. He later sued her back.

Stuart Ramson, AP

Rudy Giuliani and Donna Hanover: The New York mayor held a press conference in May of 2000 announcing that he intended to separate from his second wife, Donna Hanover. Giuliani cited cruel and inhuman treatment when he filed to divorce her, while Hanover cited adultery in her filing a year and a half later. Judith Nathan, who would become Giuliani's third wife, began appearing with him at official functions in the final months of his term.

Ron Galella, WireImage.com

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline: While the pop singer and her former dancer reached a settlement just five months after separating, their custody battle over their two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, wages on. The matter is due to go to trial in August. Spears lost custody of the boys to Federline last year, but a judge recently afforded her overnight visitation.

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Robin Givens and Mike Tyson: The couple's rocky marriage lasted only one year, with the controversial boxer filing for divorce on Valentine's Day in 1989. Robin's sister, Stephanie, told a newspaper that the actress was hit in the head "with a closed fist." There were also rumors of infidelity.

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