SHERYL CROW - CROW RETURNED ARMSTRONG'S ENGAGEMENT RING

CROW RETURNED ARMSTRONG'S ENGAGEMENT RING

Rocker SHERYL CROW forced herself to return the huge diamond engagement ring Tour de France champion LANCE ARMSTRONG gave her when he proposed to her because she found wearing it too painful. Armstrong asked the singer/songwriter to marry him last summer (AUG05), while the couple were vacationing in Sun Valley, Idaho, and presented the rocker with a rock of her own - a stunning six-carat sparkler. The couple announced they were splitting in February (06) and Crow couldn't bear to have the ring around reminding her of the past. She says, "It was a big old honking ring!" "It was beautiful and a symbol of something really, really sweet. But at that moment it also represented a lot of pain, you know, and also was quite expensive." She adds laughing, "And I don't know what the etiquette is with something like that!"