NEW YORK – Although she claims to have ended her affair with Roger Clemens when he wouldn't marry her, country music singer Mindy McReady says the former baseball star is one of the "most wonderful men" she has ever known, according to an interview with "Inside Edition."
McCready, however, was quoted on the Web site of the New York Daily News on Monday as saying she didn't want to marry Clemens.
McCready, 32, told "Inside Edition" she met Clemens when she was 16, not 15, as reported by the Daily News last April. She told the news magazine they met in a karaoke bar, that her relationship with the pitcher didn't turn sexual until several years later and the relationship lasted for a decade.
During their relationship, McCready says Clemens treated her "like a princess," but that she still regrets the relationship with the married athlete.
"Carrying on a relationship with him is not something I'm proud of," she said, according to a partial transcript released by the show.
Clemens in May denied having an affair with a 15-year-old but didn't specifically address whether he had a romance with McCready. He issued a statement that "I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry."
Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, did not respond to an e-mail for comment Monday.
"We never had a meeting in secret. We went on vacations together. We went to Palm Springs. We went to Las Vegas, New York City," McCready told "Inside Edition." I wanted him to do right by me ... and when he wouldn't, I broke it off."
But McCready, who was once engaged to "Superman" star Dean Cain, was quoted by the Daily News as saying: "I didn't want to get married to him and I don't want to get married now. He should have done right by his family — a person is unhappy in their marriage and spending all their personal time with someone else, you need to do right by your marriage. He should have just told Debbie and been honest with her. If he didn't want to be with her and wanted to be with me, he should have told her."
McCready regrets any hurt inflicted on Debbie Clemens' the pitcher's wife.
"I have nothing but remorse and nothing but sympathy for what she's had to go through with this situation, and she has my utmost apology," she told "Inside Edition."
McCready released from jail in Tennessee on Oct. 31 after serving about 30 days for violating probation on a 2004 drug charge. She only had to serve about half of her 60-day sentence because of credits she received for good behavior and doing janitorial work in the jail, the Williamson County Sheriff's Department said.
She was accused in June of falsifying her community service records and charged with violating her probation. McCready received a suspended three-year sentence in 2004 for fraudulently obtaining prescription painkillers.
"There aren't words to describe how painful it's been," she told "Inside Edition." "So painful, I haven't wanted to live. ... I've lived recklessly. I've made a lot of mistakes."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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